Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
by HTM
Summary: When Konoha's Squad of 20 went searching for Akatsuki members in their lands, they didn't expect someone to be so strong... they say that when someone experiences severe trauma, the event will either make them or break them. Akira preferred the former.
1. Under The Knife Of Examination

Asuma's shinobi sandals tapped behind the Akatsuki member sitting calmly on the stairs. He had been assigned to hunting and neutralizing, and if possible, capturing the Akatsuki with the squad of 20 shinobi of Konoha. The squad had been made by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, to eliminate the Akatsuki, and she had appointed Asuma as the leader of one of the four teams of the squad. Asuma had been a member of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi, after all, and was therefore plenty strong enough.

The Akatsuki member sitting on the steps was of average height, his head covered by a conical straw hat with small decorative torques and tassels, completely covering his head. A small amount of the person's dark blonde hair was showing through the white tassels and decorations. It was clear that it was tied into a ponytail.

But Asuma cared not. His job was to search and capture, alternatively destroy. And as for the unfortunate robed person in front of him, that spelled bad news.

The Akatsuki agent turned his head slightly, acknowledging Asuma's presence. He spoke, with a surprisingly husky, but somewhat high pitched, voice. "So, Konoha has finally decided to send someone with some decent skill after us? Took you long enough."

Asuma's eyes narrowed. He shouldn't be too surprised at the man in front of him identifying him so easily. What worried him was that he immediately identified him as a Konoha shinobi as opposed to just anyone.

But Asuma didn't hesitate for a single moment with throwing three shuriken at the Akatsuki in front of him.

What surprised Asuma, though, was that all three shuriken hit spot on.

But just before Asuma could realize the significance of hitting an Akatsuki member with mere shuriken, the criminal melted into a puddle of clear water.

He felt a sharp edge held against his throat, threatening to cut it open like a knife through butter.

But the kunai didn't even move. It took a moment before Asuma realized that it was because of Shikamaru's shadow binding technique that the man couldn't move.

Ducking under the knife, Asuma jumped backward to the sandy street in front of the building. Sure enough, Asuma saw that it was indeed Shikamaru that was responsible for the criminal's inaction.

Reaching behind him, Asuma grabbed hold of his chakra blades and was prepared to strike down the person in front of him.

But just before he reached him, Asuma heard a crash and cracking of concrete, and the shadow holding the Akatsuki criminal down let up, letting him escape Asuma's killing blow.

The man that had escaped his death via chakra blades jumped up and landed on the roof beside another Akatsuki member, one that wore a mask that covered half of his dark skinned face and had a white hood on that covered most of his head. An anomaly with the man was his eyes. What should have been white was red, and his irises were green with no pupil. He was also very tall, and on his forehead, proudly displayed, was a horizontally slashed headband with the symbol of Taki.

Asuma and Shikamaru stood on the dirty road in front of the building. Appearing in the distinct flicker of the shunshin technique, Izumo and Kotetsu arrived.

"That took you too long, Kakuzu," the Akatsuki outlaw said. "Collecting bounty money shouldn't take that long."

Kakuzu grunted in annoyance. "Shut up before I kill you and collect _your_ bounty, Akira. And what do we have here? Some Konoha filth trying to kill us?"

Neither of Kakuzu or Akira broke their gazes from the four Konoha shinobi.

"Like you could kill me anyway. And yeah, these Konoha lowlifes are here to _try_ and take our lives. Good luck, I say," Akira taunted haughtily.

None of the four Konoha shinobi were happy about the taunt, and they all readied themselves for some intense combat.

Akira walked forward and dropped off the roof, hitting the beige concrete with a small thud and tap of the shinobi sandals.

"Stay back this time, Kakuzu. I'll take care of them myself," Akira said confidently before righting himself up and stretched his arms a little.

"Do as you wish," Kakuzu scoffed. He proceeded to sit down on the roof to observe Akira's fight.

Tensing some more, the Konoha shinobi prepared for a battle against a single opponent.

Stopping just before he reached the steps, Akira pointed at Asuma. "You're Asuma Sarutobi, right?" he asked.

Asuma scowled. "What is it to you?"

Akira turned his head around and spoke loudly. "Hey, Kakuzu. Isn't that the name of that one guy that had thirty five million on his head?"

Kakuzu only responded with nodding.

With that Akira charged at the Konoha shinobi with blinding speeds, surprising even Asuma. Before Asuma could make a proper defence, he felt pain surge through his stomach, and was promptly sent off towards one of the wooden poles and through it, splintering the wood and snapping the cables wired to the poles beside the wrecked one on the road, sending small, harmless sparks off in a few short bursts of electricity.

Before any of the other shinobi could counter, they were sent flying by a few kicks, sliding on the rough terrain that was the ground and kicking up a bit of dirt on the way.

Akira righted his stance and began to stretch his legs, his hand still firmly holding the brim of his hat. "Come on," he said. "That can't be the best you can do."

Akira was keeping a careful eye on both Asuma and Shikamaru. Unbeknownst to them, Akira was a very good sensor, capable of accurately measuring the chakra capacity of just about anyone except those who actively held their levels down. And those who did so restricted themselves in the process too. He knew that Asuma was very good, it was evident from his high bounty, but judging from the effect Shikamaru's shadow technique had, he could also clearly say that Shikamaru was a clear danger as well, not in chakra capacity, but techniques.

Akira himself had very large reserves of chakra and with control that would make any medic shinobi and doctor green with envy, so he wasn't going to run dry any time soon.

Asuma shoved a splintered log that was hindering his vision off his body and analysed the situation. "_All right, so this Akira person is too fast to see. Almost makes me feel like fighting Guy, and he's not someone I want to fight. He uses kicks, at least initially, as a taijutsu style. Displayed knowledge of either a water based body replacement or a water clone. Likely water clone. Method of attack? Engage in long range combat, and if not possible, medium range. Stay away from close range._"

Luckily for Asuma, he had quite a few long ranged and medium ranged techniques that required only a small amount of chakra and had decent results.

Flying through four hand seals – Snake, Rat, Snake, Tiger – he spat out a large cloud of ash imbued with his chakra. The cloud of ash enveloped Akira completely, showing only his silhouette through the thick ash veil. Asuma wondered if Akira was suicidal or wished to die – he doubted it – because he didn't move away from the attack. But Asuma wasn't about to look a gift horse on the mouth.

Snapping his teeth together, Asuma lit the ash cloud on fire, making it explode violently, shaking the ground and damaging a part of the building. Shikamaru and the two Chuunin were a safe distance away from the explosive ash.

"Fire Release, Ash Pile Burning!"

The fire glassed the sand and scorched the dirt, sending it flying into any and all directions.

Eventually, after a minute or so, the fire, smoke and debris fell down, revealing nothing that would indicate that anything living had been there.

"That is a dangerous technique, Asuma Sarutobi. You should only use it on stationary targets, though."

"_Behind!_" Asuma swung his hand behind him, still wielding his chakra blades, his cigarette leaving a trail of smoke behind.

Two kunai clashed together with flying sparks and a sound of steel hitting steel, and Asuma was pleasantly surprised because it seemed that Akira was lacking in upper body strength. "_That explains the reliance on kicks._"

Speaking of kicks, Asuma felt a foot lodge itself deeply into the side of his stomach. Asuma was sent careening into another tree, shattering it and sending him crashing into another.

Asuma coughed harshly. That kick had hurt like a bitch, and that was not even considering being sent through a tree.

Briefly Asuma wondered why the other three in the team weren't helping. A short glance told him that Shikamaru, Izumo and Kotetsu were already fighting, just they were against clones of Akira, one for each. He briefly worried about their survival, but he couldn't think about them when half a dozen kunai peppered his body.

Well, what would have been his body. With a quick use of the body replacement technique, Asuma had narrowly escaped injury by replacing himself with a log.

Asuma wasn't one to hold back against someone who could send him through a tree and was so damn fast, so with three ridiculously fast hand seals – Horse, Monkey, Bird – Asuma held his hands in a circle fashion around his mouth. Out of his mouth came a grey cloud, yet unlike the ash cloud, this one was much, much faster.

But despite its speed, it didn't even brush against Akira's robes as he jumped a couple of yards to the side, avoiding it entirely.

Asuma didn't hold the technique up. He knew that Akira would jump to the side, and performed a sealless shunshin, appearing right behind Akira with his chakra blade ready to hit his target.

Asuma did in fact hit Akira, tearing through the clothing and the flesh, marring the ground with a thin line of blood.

Asuma wondered why the blood was brown.

Asuma saw why it was a moment later when the Akira in front of him dissipated into mud and when he felt a sharp pain in the base of his spine. For a second Asuma thought his spine broke.

He was right.

The pressure on the spine was too great for it to hold itself together, the spinal cord snapping and the bones cracking.

Asuma felt unimaginable pain go through his entire body before he felt the loss of his legs. And if he couldn't use his legs then he might as well not be a shinobi to begin with.

His face smacked harshly against the grass and dirt, and he was certain he felt a rock scratch his cheek. How he was still conscious he didn't know, but he had to go through with his mission. To kill this Akatsuki, no matter the cost. If he lost the use of his legs, then so be it.

Asuma tried to push himself off the ground with his fists still clenching his treasured chakra blades. But it was in vain when he felt a foot hit his stomach hard, sending him off into the sandy road in front of the building.

Asuma had enough trouble breathing as it was, but the kick had sent him face down, making him struggle even more to take even a single breath that wasn't filling his mouth and nose with sand and dirt and whatnot.

Akira had dispelled the clones fighting against the three other Chuunin as he entered their line of sight. Shikamaru was staring in disbelief at Asuma's disabled body, blood seeping through his lips like a fountain, and only his upper body twitching wildly. Asuma was coughing so much it was actually making Shikamaru flinch.

Shikamaru couldn't believe it. Asuma was supposed to be an Elite Jounin. He wasn't supposed to die, not here, not now! How could it have happened? Why was this damned Akatsuki just standing over Asuma's body and not finishing it? Was he that sadistic?

The two Chuunin, Izumo and Kotetsu, had similar reactions.

Shikamaru wouldn't have it. Asuma might still be alive for all he knew.

That was more than enough motivation to snap out of his stupor and throw his hands into the Rat hand seal, channelling chakra through his feet and into his shadow. Shikamaru's shadow extended in an immense speed, shooting towards Akira.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, the Akira that was standing right beside Asuma was just an earth clone.

Shikamaru didn't know that, though, and connected his shadow with Akira's. Normally he would have smiled and said something cheeky, like 'Shadow Possession Technique, success' or something like that, but now was _not_ the time for pleasantries. This was an Akatsuki member he was against, and they were all S-Class or somewhere very close to that.

Izumo and Kotetsu, though, saw Akira behind Shikamaru. They didn't think about why he didn't just kill Shikamaru. Instead Izumo just shouted at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, _move_!"

Shikamaru heard Izumo's call and turned his head.

Sure enough, Shikamaru saw Akira. He didn't see his face – it was covered by the straw hat – but the cloak was all he needed to see.

Dispelling his shadow technique, Shikamaru rolled forward and jumped back when he righted himself. He landed beside Izumo and Kotetsu, who had run up to meet Shikamaru halfway. Behind the three Konoha shinobi was the downed Asuma, still struggling to breathe with the intense pain.

Kakuzu scowled. Akira could have killed them all in less than a minute, but chose instead to toy with them. The head of a clan heir was worth 3 million ryo, and the two Chuunin – Kakuzu didn't care about their names – were just trash to be thrown away. What really puzzled Kakuzu was that Akira didn't even fully kill Asuma. Kakuzu's experience with Akira alone was enough to tell him that he was not sadistic in any fashion. In fact Akira loathed sadists, like that one crazy Jashinist they had been ordered to try and hire. He was too crazy and Akira just up and buried him alive after cutting his head off. Besides, the balance in numbers would be disturbed if they had recruited him anyway, or so had Akira justified himself.

Kakuzu had begrudging respect for Akira, and strangely, he'd be the first to admit that. Akira was the first partner Kakuzu hadn't had the urge to kill. If you discounted the start of their partnership, but Akira was wary of Kakuzu to begin with and had used clones. But after a couple of days, they had found common ground. They both loved money. Kakuzu loved having money, Akira loved getting it. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. Akira never did like _keeping_ money. Akira was also quite the kleptomaniac, and just couldn't keep his fingers to himself when it was about money that wasn't on a friendly – or non-hostile, as the case may be – person.

And not only did Kakuzu like – yes, _like_ – Akira, he also would admit – only to himself – that he would have lost in a full-out battle against him. Mainly because of Akira's affinity of using clones. Lots and lots of clones. If there was a clone technique chances were Akira had it mastered and perfected down to a t. And Akira had larger reserves than Kakuzu, had better control over it than Kakuzu, and was better at taijutsu than Kakuzu.

But if one were to ask Kakuzu about Akira, he would have said something along the lines of 'mysterious but reliable, one of the best fighters I've seen'. Kakuzu had not even once seen Akira's face or body. He was questioning even Akira's gender, but he was leaning at male because of the huskiness of Akira's voice. Although in the end, he didn't care.

Kakuzu couldn't figure out why Akira was always so sadistic when it came to Konoha shinobi. He was thinking it had something to do with a traumatic past, but Kakuzu wasn't one to pry about one's past, especially not when Kakuzu didn't even care about the Konoha filths' lives.

Akira was inwardly glowering. Akira disliked Konoha. No, not 'disliked'. _Hated_ was a more appropriate word. Akira _loathed_ Konoha. Ridicule, hypocrisy, discrimination, arrogance, self-importance, selfishness, vanity, contempt, scorn, hate, indifference. Akira did not have a good past with the supposedly 'strongest' village. Akira remembered the pushing, the yelling, the laughing, the leering, the groping, _that_ incident. Akira hated it. Normally Akira wasn't sadistic, was not one to take pleasure in inducing pain upon others. But Konoha was the only exception. If Akira met a Konoha shinobi, that shinobi would not have a good time in any fashion imaginable.

So, therefore, Akira was standing stock still and waiting for the Konoha shinobi to make the first move. Akira wanted the Konoha shinobi to despair, to feel the sadness and anger they had caused. Akira wasn't petty, Akira didn't want Konoha or its people to be destroyed because of what they had done to Akira, but rather for what sadness, despair, _pain_, they had inflicted upon so many other people. The Fourth Hokage wasn't as noble and heroic in his killings of all those Iwa shinobi as Konoha's population might think. What about those shinobi's families? They would be grieving. No, Akira was not petty. Akira wanted to destroy Konoha for what they had done, did, and would do.

Fortunately for Akira, the Konoha shinobi did in fact make the first move.

Izumo made two hand seals – Ram, Tiger – and spat out a stream of thick blue syrupy water, splashing against the dirt and covering it. Kotetsu followed up by hastily unsealing a weapon from a scroll, said weapon being a ridiculously huge seashell mace, a chain going from the bottom of its long hilt and to the top of the seashell mace. Kotetsu grabbed onto the chain and pulled it behind his head.

The water touched the still quiet and motionless Akira, making him stick to the ground. Akira was confident in his abilities. He most certainly knew that he could easily break through the water's sticky hold over his feet. He just wanted these Konoha scum to realize that against an S-Class missing shinobi, they had absolutely no hope, especially not when their strongest fighter has been taken out.

Akira's confidence was warranted when Kotetsu charged at Akira and swung the heavy mace at him. The mace did in fact hit Akira, it was just that Akira dissolved into lightning and electrocuted Kotetsu so much that his hair stood up and on end, and his skin charring in places.

Kotetsu, like a tower, collapsed onto the syrupy water, unconscious, scorched, but otherwise fine.

After all, Akira wasn't done with him.

Akira was behind Shikamaru and Izumo, both of them not happy in the slightest. Izumo, being the more experienced shinobi, heard the slight ruffle of Akira's Akatsuki robe, and therefore turned around with a kunai in hand, ready to block any attack coming for him.

He didn't expect a kick to the family jewels.

The kick was so hard that he was actually lifted off the ground for a couple of feet, and the pain was so intense that the moment the pain was registered, he lost consciousness.

Akira wasn't done with him either.

Just as Akira was about to deal with Shikamaru, he found out that he couldn't move at all.

Akira cursed. How could Akira be so forgetful as to forget Shikamaru's shadow possession technique?

Shikamaru didn't grin at all when he finally captured Akira. Instead he manipulated his shadow and began to use the shadow-neck binding technique. He deemed Akira too dangerous to catch.

It quickly became apparent that it wasn't just Akira that was temporarily forgetful.

A hand – of all things, a detached hand! – streaked towards Shikamaru, and hit him in the jaw. The resulting hit removed the shadow's hold on Akira.

Akira was not like most other Akatsuki members, and Kakuzu realized that. He also realized that he actually wanted Akira to _stay_ alive. Highly unlike him, if it were not for the money situation and the respect he had for him.

And then there was the fact that Akira wasn't as arrogant as most would expect him to be.

Akira used shunshin to appear on top of the steps, where Kakuzu had relocated himself. "Thank you, Kakuzu," Akira whispered. While Akira was not arrogant, he definitely didn't want anyone to think he was weak and needed help either.

Kakuzu merely grunted in response. He wasn't one to hold a temporary weakness on someone, especially not one like Akira. Akira could, after all, beat him. Sure, Akira would die, but only _after_ the battle had taken place.

Shikamaru realized that he was in a pinch. He was the only shinobi in the immediate vicinity that could still fight. Asuma was out of commission, and Izumo and Kotetsu were both unconscious.

Even Shikamaru's genius mind realized that these two were too strong, and that they had been unprepared for them, even with Asuma on their team.

Shikamaru slowly stood up, so that he wouldn't alarm the two Akatsuki outlaws. He knew that if he tried to escape, they'd capture him before he could get a meter away, much less if he tried to flee with Kotetsu, Izumo and Asuma, all three of which couldn't do it themselves.

Shikamaru knew that being knocked into unconsciousness would only last for a few minutes, five minutes tops. So Shikamaru devised that if he were to have any chance of escaping, he'd have to stall until either reinforcements arrived, or until the other two Chuunin awoke.

"What do you want in the Land of Fire, Akatsuki?" Shikamaru inquired.

Shikamaru couldn't see Akira's mocking amusement, but he could damn near feel it. "What we want in the Land of Fire? Well, let's see. There's money, and there's the Jinchuuriki. And I'm _sure_ your pathetic excuse for a Hidden Village would be _very_ cooperative with us when they discover your corpses," Akira stated, his hand still holding the rim of the conical straw hat.

Kakuzu's eyes crinkled in mirth. "I don't think this Konoha trash even knows the importance of money or the Jinchuuriki."

Akira chuckled. "I tend to agree with you too often, Kakuzu, but I always see the logic behind your words. So I'll just agree this time too-"

"Human Bullet Tank!"

A huge red ball stormed through the side of the building, distracting the two Akatsuki members and making them jump away. They both landed on the roof of the building, but there were already two Konoha shinobi there laying in wait. Raido Namiashi and Aoba Yamashiro. Raido had his black blade Kokuto ready and Aoba had a kunai in hand.

The two Konoha shinobi were prepared even for the coming barrage of kicks and strikes, blocking with their limbs or their weapons.

The two Akatsuki, however, did not expect a hand as big as they were tall hit them on the side, sending both of them flying for a good twenty feet before they found ground to fasten themselves to.

Akira growled angrily. "And they just keep crawling out of the woodwork, don't they?"

Kakuzu was inclined to agree with his partner, and grunted. "One of the reasons I hate Konoha is because of their annoying affinity for teamwork. As if they think that quantity is quality. Disgusting and degrading."

Akira just sighed in response as the regrouped Konoha teams revived both the unconscious Chuunin, making them combat ready in just a couple of moments. "I think that you should take the two strongest while I take the other five. I'm better at fighting multiple opponents at once."

Kakuzu growled slightly, but could see Akira's logic. Akira was not calling Kakuzu weak. Akira just said that Kakuzu was not _as good_ as Akira at fighting many enemies. But he just couldn't get the notion that Akira was mocking him out of his mind. He knew it was just his pride talking, and thus grudgingly abided with Akira's short plan. Besides, Akira just told him to take the two _strongest_. "Fine, but you'll pay me at least half a million after this."

Akira just waved Kakuzu off. "Whatever."

With that they both charged at the Konoha shinobi so fast that they almost couldn't perceive them.

Kakuzu detached both of his hands and grabbed onto Aoba and Raido, Aoba on his neck and Raido on his ankle. With his hold on the two he ran, dragging the two Special Jounin a fair distance away, creating small, shallow trenches in the dirt road.

"Aoba, Raido!" Chouji Akimichi shouted in concern for his fellow Konoha shinobi. But he didn't see Akira's leg connect with Ino Yamanaka, who was in hiding and waiting for the perfect opportunity to use her mind-body switch technique on one of the Akatsuki members.

Yeah, he didn't _see_ it, but he _heard_ it alright.

Ino managed to see Akira, and was even able to make a proper defence against Akira's kick.

It would have been effective had Akira not been such a hard kicker.

The kick broke both of Ino's forearms, eliciting a loud scream of pain from her, and sending her from in between the many trees and beside Chouji, Shikamaru, Izumo and Kotetsu.

Ino was gasping for air and from the pain shooting through her broken forearms, but she could fight through the pain, and briefly thanked all deities that she knew about that she was proficient enough at medical ninjutsu that she could mend her broken bones within a couple dozen minutes.

Akira, still holding on the rim of the hat, exited the wooded side of the road. "You can't be serious," he said mockingly. "You're supposed to be Chuunin, yet you don't even know about hardening one's own skin, muscle and bone with chakra? I learned that when I was a Genin. How much has Konoha let its arrogance get to its head?"

Chouji growled, "Shut up, Akatsuki! You don't know anything about Konoha!"

For a reason Akira's five opponents did not know, those words sent him into silence for a few seconds.

Akira slowly reached for something behind his head, fumbled with something for a second and brought it for the Konoha shinobi to see.

What they saw was not something they had expected.

It was obvious that it was a forehead protector, judging by the metal plate and the navy blue colour of the cloth the metal plate was sown onto. The forehead protector had a long, horizontal scratch marring its otherwise flawless surface.

That was not what sent them into a short state of shock.

"I think I know more about Konoha than you might think, you waste of air."

The symbol that the scratch tarnished was the symbol of Konoha.

"Y-You're a Konoha missing-nin?" Kotetsu stammered, his surprise shared equally with his fellow Konoha shinobi.

Akira nodded, the straw hat still not revealing anything about his face. "And because I know about Konoha's inner workings and some of its darkest secrets, I'm pretty sure that your Hokage didn't send you after us to deal with Akatsuki, but more to deal with _me_."

Shikamaru grunted. "I don't see a reason to believe you, Akatsuki. You might be from Konoha, you might have been a Konoha shinobi, but I won't forgive you for what you've done to Asuma and Ino."

Akira tied the forehead protector to his forehead again, sighed and shook his head. "Oh, I'm _so_ scared. What are the four of you going to do against me? I've killed people _much_ stronger than you. Dozens, in fact. What do you have that they didn't?" he said, mocking the four still conscious and able shinobi.

Shikamaru smirked. That question was one of those he was just _waiting_ to answer. "We have teamwork. That's-"

Akira began to chuckle. The chuckle was enough to make Shikamaru stop talking about Konoha's philosophy for combat. Then Akira began to laugh loudly, slapping his knee and clutching his stomach in false pain.

"Teamwork?! Really? Is that what you Konoha _scum_ think your Hidden Village is focused on? Is that what you think Konoha loves the most?" Akira managed to taunt through his insulting laughter.

Chouji's gritted his teeth in anger. Chouji was not going to have this Akatsuki criminal mock his Hidden Village when he could do something about it. "Shut up, Akatsuki!" he shouted, made two hand seals – the Ram hand seal and the special hand seal that was usually associated with the Akimichi clan's techniques – increased thrice in size and began to roll forward with quickness that belied his size.

But Akira did not move when Chouji reached him. He did not even dodge Chouji's attack, just standing still.

Chouji rolled on, but when he reached Akira, the Akatsuki member spun around and performed a roundhouse kick on the rolling Akimichi, sending him crashing into the building.

Akira had already expected the three other Chuunin to use Chouji as a visual cover, running against him speedily. Even without his acute sensing, he would have expected such a novice strategy anyway.

Kotetsu's seashell crashed down onto the ground where Akira had been, said Akatsuki member dodging the humongous mace by a humiliating margin of two yards.

Izumo followed up by performing six hand seals – Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger – and spat out a volley of small fireballs, aimed directly at the Konoha missing-nin. "Fire Release, Phoenix Sage Fire technique!"

The fireballs were very quick, but definitely not quick enough to hit Akira. Akira, without using any gestures whatsoever, created a water wall, drawing water from the very air around the shinobi. The water rose to protect Akira from the many fireballs, and the fire connected with the water, making the water steam harshly, veiling Akira.

Before Akira could act on the hiding, though, Izumo grabbed Kotetsu, Chouji barrelled towards Ino and grabbed her and Shikamaru took hold of Asuma's immobilized form. They began to flee.

None of the Konoha shinobi liked retreating, but they simply didn't have any chance to defeat the Akatsuki, especially when both of the Akatsuki hadn't revealed their entire hand. The Akatsuki were simply far too strong for them as they were.

Akira sighed when the steam let up. Akira hadn't expected the shinobi to retreat, but it shouldn't have been a surprise. Truthfully, in Akira's mind, Konoha shinobi had always been extremely cowardly, arrogant, and all the negative connotations applicable.

Akira heard – and sensed – Kakuzu walking at a leisurely pace towards him.

"I still think that you should just have finished them before they had a chance to recuperate, Akira," Kakuzu complained, his voice having a gravelly quality to it. Although Kakuzu didn't complain about Akira's methods, he complained about Akira's 'reluctance' to kill Konoha shinobi before making them suffer instead of trapping them and _then _torture them.

Akira sighed and fingered the edge of the straw hat. "And you know what I say to that, Kakuzu. Personal business stays personal. Personal stories stay personal. Anything personal _stays the fuck_ personal."

* * *

"Two Tails will be next after Three Tails has been sealed. This will take six days. Be ready."

Those were the words of Akatsuki's ominous and mysterious leader, who was only recognized among the organization's members as 'Pain'.

"Any questions?"

"Just one," Akira spoke up. "I haven't been told why we are gathering so much money. We have enough to fund a major Hidden Village, why do we need even more?"

"We need the financial backing to essentially become the blood of one of the Elemental Nations' countries. If we are to keep a steady income we are to have a lot of missions coming in, and we have to maintain a cheap service, making more and more clients and robbing the Hidden Villages of their own. What we are doing will make the smaller Hidden Villages cut their ties and depend on us, and we will form another Hidden Village, stronger than any of the Five Great Hidden Villages. In the beginning, this new Hidden Village will be the cheapest and most efficient. Once word spreads around, more and more clients will depend on us, taking them away from the other Five Great Hidden Villages. This will instigate wars that will further boost our economy and cripple theirs. And if it doesn't invoke wars, then we will use the Tailed Beasts to make wars. We will eventually have a monopoly on war. Even the biggest and most powerful Hidden Villages will collapse, and the Five Great Countries will be forced to turn to Akatsuki. And then we will have achieved our true goal. We will be in control of the entire world. Nothing has changed, Akira. Our goal is still in sight."

* * *

Tsunade was having a bad day. Still, she had to admit that it could have gone _much_ worse. She had already been in an intensive care operation room, operating on Asuma. He had received extreme trauma to his spine, but Tsunade had been pleasantly surprised to see that it was not irreversible. Asuma could still be a fully functioning shinobi once the operation and rehabilitation was complete.

But the operation itself wasn't what had made her day really bad.

It was the news about the identity of one of the Akatsuki members. It was someone she personally knew, and could sympathize with.

Akira.

"Akira. You're sure that the Taki missing-nin said Akira?" Tsunade inquired hastily.

Shikamaru was slightly surprised from Tsunade's eagerness. Shikamaru fought through the surprise easily, though, and nodded.

Tsunade sighed and began to rub her forehead. "Akira..."

Izumo and Kotetsu were getting some rest after the intense fight, Ino was in the hospital getting her forearms properly treated and Raido was also in the hospital after almost having his neck and several bones in his body broken, so the only other ones there to report what had happened was Chouji, Shikamaru and Aoba.

Chouji leaned slightly forward. "Is this Akira person someone you know?" he asked politely.

Tsunade nodded, and resigned to the fact that she couldn't ignore Akira's defection and crimes against Konoha any longer. "Yes. I was Akira's psychologist before the abandoning."

"Psychologist?"

Tsunade nodded again. "Yeah, Akira didn't exactly have the best of lives, what with being ridiculed for certain... physical appearances. Akira basically didn't have a proper childhood, either, both having an uncaring mother and an abusive father. When Akira joined the Academy... things just got shot to hell. The first incident happened when Akira beat up some bullies and had to be held back by two teachers. That was when Akira was five years old. Three days later, graduated on top of the entire year. Six months later, promoted to Chuunin. One and a half years later and Akira was a Jounin. Two years after becoming Jounin, ANBU instatement. Akira became ANBU Captain with just a year in ANBU service, something even Itachi Uchiha didn't manage to beat. But during those six years of ANBU service, things got increasingly bad for Akira. Ridicule, bullying, singling out, leering, jeering, being laughed at, pushed around."

Tsunade shook her head, making her pig tails sway slightly. "And then the straw that broke the camel's back. _That_ incident."

"'That' incident?" Aoba asked, but was very wary on asking about someone's tragic past.

Again, Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. Remember when I said that Akira had an abusive father? He didn't exactly take too kindly to Akira's many hours out of home. After six years of... _tolerating_... Akira's continued absence, he just _snapped_. And then did something very, _very_ bad. Something Akira killed both parents for. The day after that Akira just up and left the village, scratching the forehead protector and forever becoming a missing-nin, declaring utter hatred for the village."

Tsunade didn't look up when she said the next few words. "Just thinking about the pain Akira goes through every day remembering the incident. I can't even imagine it."

Tsunade had had enough of explaining Akira's past to them. She was already beginning to choke on tears. Not wanting to display them she swung her seat around to face the windows and gave the three shinobi present a wave. "Asuma will be fine. The surgery will take seven days, and the rehab will take another seven. After that he will be fully active again. Dismissed."

The three Konoha shinobi nodded and promptly left, Akira's dark past being pictured in their minds. What had 'that' incident been? Why had Akira been harassed?

Those were but few of the questions running through their minds.

All the while Tsunade was letting only a few tears run past her cheeks.

"Akira... why didn't you let me help you?"

* * *

Kakashi had been ordered Tsunade to meet up with her in her office. Kakashi had been on time, surprisingly. Well, it would have been surprising if the messenger didn't hand him a slip of paper, that had a name that Kakashi was all too familiar with written on it.

'Akira'.

That name brought forth far too many bad memories.

"You called, Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade was looking sullenly at the desk, her hands folded in front of her mouth. She didn't make eye contact with Kakashi, but Kakashi was understanding in that regard. It was without a doubt about Akira. "Yes. I want you to be the captain of Team Ten."

Kakashi was surprised with the order. "Why is that?"

Tsunade sighed solemnly and locked eyes with Kakashi. "Akira is an Akatsuki member."

* * *

"Team Ten. Your new captain is Kakashi Hatake. Follow his orders as you would Asuma's. Your mission hasn't changed. Search and capture, alternatively destroy, Akatsuki members in the Land of Fire. Akatsuki members Kakuzu and Akira are assumed to be headed for Konoha itself. They are doubtlessly targeting Naruto. Search and capture, I repeat, search and capture!"

"Yes, Lady Hokage!"

* * *

"Kakuzu."

"I know."

Akira and Kakuzu were walking at a relaxed pace through a dead forest, showing no signs of distress or awareness of being watched. The forest's trees grey and lifeless. It served as a good spot to do some training with devastating techniques. The only place Akira could come up with that would have been better would be a heavily sealed room that simulated terrain and many other factors.

But neither of the Akatsuki members were concerned about training their techniques when they knew they were being spied on.

And it wasn't by a civilian, a mercenary, or even a shinobi – at least not directly, anyway – no. It was by a bird.

"C-6?"

Kakuzu nodded.

The two Akatsuki criminals turned to walk behind a tree, obscuring the flying creature's view for only a few moments before it found them again, continuing its observation.

The scouting continued for a few more minutes before the bird gained back the control of its own body.

* * *

Half a kilometre away Ino regained consciousness and immediately began to report the two's position. "They're ten minutes to the north, advancing slowly towards Konoha."

Kakashi nodded, uncharacteristically determined. "Then let's start hunting."

* * *

A black shadow crept slowly towards the two strolling Akatsuki outlaws. They appeared to be completely unaware of the creeping shadow, walking at a speed a civilian would have found casual.

The shadow was reaching towards Kakuzu first. The shadow hugged the trees and any cover it could use.

But just before it touched Kakuzu's shadow both the Akatsuki members jumped far forwards, escaping the shadow technique.

The Akatsuki members jumped backwards repeatedly, dodging and weaving away from the rapidly accelerating shadow.

Looking up Akira sensed a chakra signature that was recognizable. It was the Konoha Chuunin, Shikamaru Nara. He had just let go of a pair of chakra blades that the Jounin that had attacked them perhaps a week ago had. Akira immediately noticed that they had explosive tags.

But Akira, having channelled chakra to the eyes, saw that they were complete duds. They were missing a key component.

Akira spun around and roundhouse kicked the chakra blade, sending it on a collision course for the chakra blade aimed at Kakuzu. The blade hit its twin with a clang, and made both careen towards a tree close by.

Kakuzu and Akira both snapped their attention to Shikamaru. He was standing a bit of a distance in front of them both, looking far too confident than the situation dictated, his hands casually planted in his pockets.

"Akira," Kakuzu grunted.

"Three others. One behind tree diagonal-up-left. Other two behind tree direct-back."

Kakuzu nodded, because he knew that even if Akira couldn't see them he could sense them. Akira's sensing was just so acute that it could even be considered a Byakugan, although the eye had the advantage of actually _seeing_ instead of _sensing_. Sensing only found location. Byakugan saw everything, from weapons to skin colour, from eye colour to clothing. That's where sensing was inferior.

"I'll take the one behind tree diagonal-up-left. You take the other three," Akira murmured so low that only Kakuzu could actually hear it.

The statement was somewhat surprising for Kakuzu, actually. Normally Kakuzu was the one to target single targets, not Akira. And normally Kakuzu was the one giving orders, not Akira.

Unless...

Yes, that could be it. "Very well then. G-5?"

Akira nodded. "G-5," he responded.

With a burst of speed the two Akatsuki disappeared with a visible flicker of light, startling Team Ten a bit.

* * *

Kakuzu appeared behind the two Chuunin. He knew they were clan heirs, so he would have to take extra care to make sure none of them got _too_ mutilated in the process.

Kakuzu shot his left hand out and grabbed hold of Ino's neck, applying so much force that if Ino hadn't clutched onto Kakuzu's hand she would have had died from a broken neck.

Kakuzu retracted his hand, bringing Ino back with him. Chouji was only taken aback for a moment before weaving his hands through a few hand seals. His hair wrapped around his balled form, and he began to spin viciously.

With an explosion of speed Chouji shot forwards at Kakuzu. Chouji knew that he wouldn't hit Kakuzu to begin with, so he was confident that Ino would survive.

He was right, because Kakuzu jumped up with Ino tightly held in his hand, sticking on one of the trees.

Shikamaru ran past the tree Ino and Chouji had hid behind and saw the predicament Ino was in. Making a quick decision Shikamaru ran to Chouji's side and began to perform a couple of hand seals, putting chakra into his shadow as Chouji used his clan's partial multi-size technique to increase the size of his arms. Chouji's massive arms slammed into the side of the base of the tree, making it topple to the side that Chouji hit.

Kakuzu was unperturbed by both Chouji's technique and the tree falling. He jumped and landed on another tree, and proceeded to squeeze Ino's neck harder. Ino gasped as a result and tried vainly to get him to let go of her.

Chouji ran up the tree, and hadn't let up on the Akimichi technique. Chouji was about to throw a punch when Kakuzu threw Ino at Chouji, surprising him.

Chouji disabled his multi-size technique to grab Ino.

He hadn't expected Kakuzu to use Ino as a distraction, and thus felt pain shoot through his stomach, and was promptly sent into the ground, kicking up a lot of dust and debris.

Kakuzu shook his head. "Amateurs."

* * *

Kakashi and Akira were both standing on a tree branch, facing each other. Neither looked as if they were about to attack each other, but it certainly was obvious that they were both very tense.

"You joined Akatsuki, then," Kakashi began. He stuck his hands in his pockets, but his entire body was tense.

Akira didn't move the straw hat to look Kakashi in the eye. "Yes."

"Why did you join Akatsuki instead of coming back?"

Akira shook his head and chuckled. "You expect me to go back to that hell-hole? I joined Akatsuki because it was for the best."

Kakashi was quiet for a minute before responding. "The best for whom, exactly?"

"Everyone," Akira replied without hesitance.

"Everyone?"

Akira shook his head again. "Let me rephrase. Everyone _that_ _matters_."

Kakashi lowered his eyes to stare at Akira's feet. "What happened to you, Akira? Why did you even brand yourself as a missing-nin to begin with?"

Akira's fists clenched tightly. "You know what happened, Kakashi. My father and mother... they did terrible things to me."

"I know that, but _what_?"

Akira took hold of the conical straw hat and pulled it off.

Akira's bright green eyes looked directly into Kakashi's, the Jounin having looked back up. Akira's eyes were sad and traumatized, but angry at the same time. Akira's very feminine face was only covered by a dark blonde strand of hair running down Akira's nose and brushing against the chin. "My father..."

"He raped me. My mother didn't care."

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise, his tenseness slacking. "What? Why didn't you get help from anyone then?"

Akira's gaze was averted. "I didn't want to trouble anyone. You, Tsunade, Jiraiya, none of you deserved to be burdened by my sorrows. Besides, Konoha only saw me as an object to begin with. Someone not worth listening to."

Kakashi took a step forward. "Akira, you know that's a lie. You know that you would never burden us to begin with. Tsunade, Jiraiya, I, we all cared for you, still do. You haven't committed any crimes against Konoha that gives you any kind of severe punishment. You can still come back."

Akira's eyes hardened. "You're lying. No one cares about me. The only one who cares for me is myself. Besides, you see me as a sex object too. I know you can. Every man sees me like one. They began to look at me like that when I was six and a half, when my breasts began to grow. The looks, the groping, everything. It was bad enough that I was stared at pervertedly, but Konoha's secrets, their actions. Unacceptable, unforgivable."

Kakashi sighed. "Akira. Things change. Far from everyone sees you as a sex object. Jiraiya knows that you're sensitive about your curves. He won't perv on you. Tsunade can understand your problem. I won't look at you lecherously. You know I'm not that type of person."

Akira's bright eyes narrowed. "Why do you spout such lies, knowing I'll see through them?"

Kakashi shook his head sadly. "Because I don't lie, not to people I care about."

Akira scoffed harshly. "You're a piece of shit, just like every other man on this miserable excuse of a planet."

"My mission is to search and capture. I'll bring you back, even if I have to break every bone in your body."

"You're welcome to try."

* * *

**Author's note:** Yeah yeah, I haven't updated Tales of a Dimensional Travelling Gutsy Ninja for I don't know how long. The only "excuse" I have is that I don't really know what to write. Or that I've lost interest (temporarily). Dunno.

But here's a new story. Don't really know about the title of the story, but it could be taken as if it's Konoha's power corrupts itself. Yeah, yeah that could be it.


	2. Infighting In The Teams Of Old

Akira growled as she prepared a charge that Kakashi, even with the Sharingan that made him famous, would not be able to avoid.

Akira didn't want anyone from Konoha – how she hated even thinking about that despicable village – to know her real gender. For her, Itachi Uchiha didn't count, because he had abandoned Konoha just like herself. She didn't respect him or like him, though. He had killed his entire clan. How or why she didn't care. What she did care about was that he did kill at the very least some of his own clan. She didn't, _couldn't_, respect that in a positive fashion. Killing your own family that had actually treated you right. She would not like that.

Kakashi prepared for a strike that he couldn't see, lifting his forehead protector to reveal that red spinning Sharingan eye of his. "You can still come back, Akira. Jiraiya, Tsunade and I miss you."

Akira's growl intensified. With a thrust of Akira's legs the thick dead tree branch they were standing on broke off from the rest of the tree, descending to the ground. Both Kakashi and Akira jumped away from the white tree, Kakashi aiming at another tree branch and Akira chasing after him.

Kakashi was prepared for Akira when she landed on the same tree branch. Kakashi closed his right eye, took out a kunai and rushed against the woman before she even landed on the branch.

Akira's eyes widened very slightly. She shouldn't have been surprised by Kakashi's improved speed. They hadn't seen each other for almost ten years, so he was bound to be much stronger than before.

But she wasn't defenceless, by any means. Akira leaned to the side, dodging the kunai thrust to her chest, and brought up a harsh knee.

Yes, he had been getting better.

It was just that she was still better than him.

Her knee connected with his abdomen, and the hit sent him flying straight into the tree and through it, creating a literal cloud of dust and dead bark.

She hadn't even enhanced that with chakra. Her leg strength had always been somewhat of a medical mystery. Not even her psychologist, Tsunade, who was renowned as the world's best doctor and medic, could figure it out.

That was the only thing Akira liked about her body. Her kicks could destroy an entire mountain when reinforced with chakra. She had done it twice before. Once to showcase her power to the Akatsuki recruiter and another to release some pent-up aggression, inadvertently utterly eviscerating a desolated Konoha outpost.

Kakashi stormed out of the veil with a swiftness that Akira could only compare to herself.

What followed him closely was a lightning blue trail.

"_Raikiri? Already?_" Akira thought within a split second. And within another split second, one which Kakashi used to halve the distance between them, Akira threw her palm at her former teammate.

Right in front of her palm came a rush of blue chakra. The chakra spun and spun, and eventually it gathered into a ball, a practical whirlpool of blue chakra.

"_Rasengan... I'm sorry, Minato-sensei. I swear I'll make it up to you somehow for using your technique!_"

And that only lasted a single moment before Raikiri and Rasengan clashed in a vicious battle of power. Raikiri with its elemental manipulation and the Rasengan with its shape manipulation. Both veritable epitomes of chakra manipulation, fighting for a foothold against the other. One piercing, the other grinding.

Neither technique let up against the other. Kakashi was pushing with all his might. Akira was pushing with all her might.

After what seemed like an eternity, an explosion of chakra blew up the entire tree, sending both Akira and Kakashi in opposite directions and crashing into dead trees. The trees collapsed, but none of the trees hit either shinobi as they rushed forwards. They met each other half-way, hitting kunai with kunai, sending sparks of friction in every direction.

Both of them knew she would lose in a test of upper body strength, so she simply used her superior speed to swing herself around in a full circle, the kunai in her hand in a reverse grip, the tip going straight for Kakashi's jugular. It would have hit if Kakashi did not have a Sharingan eye. The eye made him see the incoming attack and was able to make him respond quickly enough.

Another shower of sparks flew as the kunai met edge with edge. Kakashi wasn't finished there, though, and struck Akira with a clenched fist that sent her flying straight down onto the dirty ground.

But the Akira Kakashi hit disappeared into a large smudge of mud, dirtying Kakashi's arm.

Kakashi saw a kick going for his head, and used a body replacement technique to avoid it. The log he replaced himself with splintered and was sent through so many trees that it wasn't even funny. Kakashi knew that if he was hit with one of Akira's chakra powered kicks he would be finished. Hell, even if one of Akira's _normal_ kicks hit he would be done for. Obito had been on the receiving end on those one too many times.

Kakashi bent backwards to avoid another kick, and had to do several back-flips to avoid a whirlwind of immensely strong kicks. He did a corkscrew to land on another tree branch, and jumped away as Akira smashed the branch to bits and pieces with a single kick, a thick white cloud covering the landing of the hit.

Kakashi performed two hand seals – Horse, Tiger – took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. The air that came out of Kakashi was not air to begin with, but fire, streaming out in a river of flames, burning and consuming air. The fire blasted with unprecedented ferocity, burning through the cloud and flying debris, turning everything into the darkest of ashes.

To counter the Great Fireball technique Akira seallessly made a wall of translucent water. The water shot up from the wood in front of Akira's feet, towering above her and the great fireball. Once the fireball collided with the cool water wall steam erupted from the contact of fire and water. The steam flew in every direction away from the still thick wall of water.

Of course he hadn't expected the fireball to work. She had a water affinity, and water beats fire any day.

So, instead of foolishly trying to win over her water wall, he instead leapt over the obstruction with a kunai still in hand. Once he was past the steam veil he saw no Akira.

Instead, he felt a sharp pain hit the left side of his ribs. The kick sent him spiralling into a couple of trees, shattering their dead bark and making them collapse in on themselves, kicking a massive amount of dust, dirt and debris into the air upon hitting the ground.

Akira clearly saw that the Kakashi she had kicked was a standard shadow clone – Akira hated it that Konoha both claimed ownership of the technique _she_ had invented _and_ used it so much – so she expected Kakashi to appear behind her and slash with his kunai, tearing apart her Akatsuki robe and through her flesh, drawing a minimal gob of _blue_ blood.

Akira dissolved into water, saturating the wood.

Kakashi wouldn't have seen the two Akiras come from the sides, both going for his legs, if he hadn't had his Sharingan. He jumped slightly into the air, just enough to escape being stabbed in the shins by the two kunai. He then thrust his legs sharply down to step on the black blades with enough force to shatter them into tiny pieces. Normal kunai wouldn't even have been scratched, but those kunai weren't normal. They had the same piercing and cutting power, but not the same strength as standard kunai.

Kakashi rolled forward and jumped down to the ground as a barrage of water beams assaulted his previous position. He had seen it with his Sharingan, and he knew that if he had been a split second later he would have died. Near death situations weren't new to him, not when he had been in the ANBU program for such a long time.

Kakashi wanted to bring Akira back, and if that entailed beating her into the land of unconsciousness, then so be it. Akira was a tough girl, she'd definitely be able to stay alive even after such a beating. Kakashi wanted his friend back.

* * *

Kakuzu was, to say the least, annoyed.

The three amateurs, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Chouji Akimichi, had quite a good teamwork plan going for them. But it was clear that they didn't have the stamina to back themselves up in a prolonged fight.

Kakuzu had stamina in spades, and he was practically an expert in sustained combat.

So with a significant feeling of boredom, Kakuzu evaded a giant fist coming his way.

In fact, he was so bored that he decided to advise the Chuunin on how to fight him. "You're overextending the punch," or "Try hitting for where I'll be instead of where I am," or even "Your shadow paralysis technique would have done wonders if you had used the Akimichi and the Yamanaka as a distraction, Nara."

Kakuzu wasn't even enjoying the mocking of Team Ten. He was far too bored for that.

Team Ten saw Kakuzu as an enemy, that went without saying, but when he started giving them advice on how to properly cooperate, their frustration of shot through the roof.

None of them were ones to hold grudges against each other, and this wasn't the time to hold a grudge against themselves. Shikamaru knew that, Chouji knew that, Ino knew that. So they just blamed the lack of physical contact on their own incompetence instead.

Kakuzu was so bored. So, so bored. "_Damn that Akira for making me fight these filthy Konoha Chuunin. I bet he's laughing his ass off observing me_," he thought glumly.

"_Well, there was that one book I wanted to write. The one about the importance of money. Money doesn't just turn the world around, oh no, it turns everything around. And writing that book will give me even more money. I want to be the richest man in the world, and no one will stand in my way of that_," and thus Kakuzu began to simply dodge instinctively instead of paying any attention to the three Chuunin doing their best to hit the S ranked criminal.

They all three noticed the glazed look in Kakuzu's unusual eyes. It wasn't like he was being possessed or otherwise controlled by an outside force, no. This was as if he was distracted by something. As if he was thinking about something else.

It made Team Ten too frustrated to properly coordinate their tactics.

Chouji growled viciously. "Are you even paying attention to us, Akatsuki?"

Kakuzu seemed to snap back into reality with those words. Then when Team Ten's attacks began again it was obvious that he was actually concentrating on the fight, if even a little bit.

After a couple of minutes, Kakuzu spoke up. "I'll just finish it up here. I've entertained your hopes of victory enough. I will kill you now."

The members of Team Ten's eyes widened as they all felt the build-up of chakra. The Akatsuki member's chakra levels were insanely high when compared to their own.

Kakuzu kneaded his chakra and weaved his hands into the Snake hand seal.

With a spike of chakra, the ground _heaved_.

The compressed dirt, sand and dead bark flew up quite a few metres before taking the shape of a dragon without wings. The brownish dragon compacted itself further and further, giving itself a more solid form.

Then, with a soundless command, the dragon dove with exceptional speed, equal to that of a bullet.

The earth dragon did collide, it did explode, it did do a lot of damage, and the damage done as devastating.

It was just that the damage wasn't done to anyone alive.

Team Ten had been grabbed and evacuated by four new arrivals.

Team Seven and Yamato had entered the battlefield.

Kakuzu groaned cynically. Konoha shinobi always came out of nowhere to help their own. "_Well, time to get working._"

* * *

Akira's attention was briefly diverted from the battle with her former teammate. "_New arrivals? And one of those people's chakra reserves even larger than mine?_"

Her attention was brought back into the fight as multiple kunai peppered her body. Her body melted into mud, staining the kunai with a putrid brown colour. All but one kunai disappeared with a puff of smoke, proving that they were only kunai shadow clones.

"_Stealing my technique again? Konoha just keeps getting higher and higher on my shit list than it already is!_"

Akira was in a pinch. The four newcomers were bound to assist Kakashi in some way, and therefore would discover her real gender. She didn't want that to happen, at any cost. They had a chance to escape, after all. And if the message got out, the whole world would know about her.

No, she couldn't have that.

A flare of chakra later and Akira had her conical hat donned, covering her face and much of her head.

It was then he noticed two easily recognizable people rushing to his position. "Naruto? Yamato?" he exclaimed.

The Jounin and Genin hit the ground beside the Elite Jounin, both prepared for a most vicious battle.

Kakashi took a step forward and thrust an arm to the side. "Leave. I'll take care of... him."

Kakashi couldn't see Akira's face, and her body didn't betray any emotions, but he was pretty sure that she was surprised of Kakashi's consideration for her problem with hiding her gender.

Naruto was very surprised. His sensei looked tired and beat up, but he wanted to beat this guy up anyway? Why didn't he want any help?

Yamato surprised as well. His senior was going at an Akatsuki criminal on his own? But he was visibly tired, at least to his very trained eye, and with help they would be able to defeat this seemingly very powerful man.

But Yamato assumed it had something to do with honour and pride. It was kind of sudden that Kakashi would deny help with an opponent that would probably beat him, because usually Kakashi was one to accept help. Kakashi knew his limits, knew his abilities, he wasn't overconfident, nor was he unsure of himself. No, he was assured in himself. He knew everything about his own abilities. So why did he decline aid in defeating his opponent?

Yamato did as ordered by his senior, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder and used a shunshin to instead help Team Ten and half of Team Seven fight Kakuzu.

Akira and Kakashi were standing a fair bit apart, both unmoving. That was until Akira voiced herself.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you lie to your own comrades?"

"Because I know that you don't want anyone to know who and what you really are."

Akira's body shook slightly. Kakashi wouldn't have seen it had it not been for his Sharingan. Kakashi wasn't even slightly confused when he correctly deduced the reason for her shaking to be anger.

"You're disgusting, you know that, Kakashi?"

Kakashi was quiet for a few moments before speaking up. "I'm not going to say that I'm not. I'm not going to say that I was right or wrong. I'm not going to say that what you're doing is right or wrong. You know me, Akira. I'm not the type of guy to judge, not anymore."

Kakashi saw tears running down Akira's chin, which was visible under the hat. "I want you to die, Kakashi. I want those scum from Konoha to die. I want everyone who _likes Konoha to die_!" Akira growled, fury clearly heard in her husky voice.

Kakashi looked sorrowfully at Akira. It was not pity that was in his eyes, but nor was it understanding. Kakashi couldn't fully understand what Akira had been through. But he could try. And he had tried, by god he had. "Akira, you know that there are people in Konoha who care about you-"

Kakashi stopped talking when Akira disappeared with a very slight flicker. It was only because of the Sharingan that he even _saw_ Akira about to kick his head. And seeing as Kakashi didn't have the time to dodge, he instead channelled a lot of chakra to his skull and neck to harden those areas of his body.

The kick landed, and Kakashi could tell that if he hadn't used chakra his head would be a fine red mist.

Instead Kakashi felt immense pain shoot into his head, and he was sure he felt his skull crack slightly. Kakashi briefly thanked all deities he knew of before righting himself mid-air after being sent three dozen yards of flying without control of his limbs.

Kakashi didn't know Akira was that fast, actually. Kakashi always thought that her speed was only equalled to his own, but that did not seem to be the case.

Conclusion?

Akira had been holding back.

Akira was filled with rage, and according to her, it was as righteous as it could get. Her tears of frustration and anger – she thought it was – ran down her cheeks and dripped off her chin and jaw.

She fell down on her knees and quietly wept to her heart's content. Her heart was pounding madly in her chest, and an unexpected pain ignited in it, something she had only felt after her father...

She recognized it. It was sadness and despair, acceptance and compliance, anger and wrath. The emotions running through her, it was for all intents and purposes destroying her psyche. Meeting so many Konoha shinobi in quick succession and meeting someone she cared about deep down that was still loyal to the village she hated with all her being was getting to her. She wasn't weak, not emotionally, physically or mentally. But she had passed her breaking point. Everyone had a moment where they just couldn't take it anymore.

And despite the situation and suddenness of her grieving she just couldn't resist the tempting _want_ to just shed tears.

Kakashi was honestly surprised. He had rushed at Akira when she had suddenly collapsed and began to dissolve into tears.

He didn't know what to do.

But his indecision only lasted for a single moment before he walked slowly and cautiously towards the weeping woman.

When he reached her he knelt in front of her. Akira's vision was too blurry to notice him, and she wasn't collected enough to sense his closeness.

Akira's thoughts were on her past. The faces of the bad and the good people she had killed. Thirty seven Mist ninja, twenty nine men, eight women. Twenty one Cloud ninja, eleven men and ten women. Sixty two Rock ninja, thirty men and thirty two women. Two Grass ninja, both men. One River ninja, female. Forty three Sand ninja, forty one men, two women. Two Hot Water ninja, one man, one woman. Twenty two Waterfall ninja, all men. Six Jinchuuriki, four men, two women. Fifty six politicians, fifty one men and five women. One hundred and forty four mercenaries, ninety five men and forty nine women. One hundred samurai, ninety eight men, two women. Her mother. Her father.

All those faces, they were all haunting her, all blaming her for their deaths. She thought she had come to terms with the murders she had committed, but it was not so. The deaths she was directly and indirectly responsible for made her collapse in grief. "_Why now? Why in front of a Konoha shinobi? Why in front of Kakashi? I thought I had gotten over that! __Why in front of him?_"

Kakashi saw the utter despair making a mess of his former teammate. He wanted to comfort her, to make her forget the sadness she had been through.

But just as he was about to lay his hands on her robed shoulders, Akira's hands shot up and took hold of Kakashi's neck.

And she squeezed. And squeezed hard.

"Die! Die! Die, die, die, die die die die die die _die_!" Akira screamed. "Die you Konoha filth! You all deserve to _just up and die_!"

If Kakashi hadn't had his Sharingan, and if Akira was stronger with her arms, then he would most certainly be dead. Kakashi had to send some chakra to reinforce his neck so that it didn't break. It wasn't a lot of chakra that he did send, because Akira wasn't using her own chakra to strengthen her hands and arms.

Kakashi didn't retaliate either. He knew that Akira had temporarily lost the emotional walls that held back her tragic past. So he didn't do anything to make Akira release her hold on his neck.

But after a good dozen seconds, Akira's grip released itself on its own. She then collapsed forward into Kakashi's lap, giving small sobs from her.

Kakashi rubbed his slighted throat and petted Akira's hair with his free hand. "It's all right, Akira. Just let it all out. It'll be okay," Kakashi soothed. He wasn't good with calming distraught women, but as this was Akira, his former teammate, he'd give it a shot.

Akira let up on sobbing and shook her head. "No. No, it won't be all right. Nothing will be."

Akira straightened herself up slowly, and with the sleeve of her black robe she dried her tears. She was looking at nothing in particular as she stood up. Kakashi followed suit.

"Kakashi?"

"Yes?"

Akira looked up into Kakashi's lone Sharingan eye. Kakashi was a bit stunned to see that there was not a hint of sadness or emptiness, only hatred in her eyes. Nothing but sheer, utter loathing. "Konoha will fall soon. Very soon."

With that small declaration Kakashi was sent through multiple trees with a kick that could shatter bones. And it did shatter bones. Five of Kakashi's ribs broke, most of his internal organs were sent into disarray and began bleeding, and his spine wasn't in the best of conditions. Add that to being sent through so many trees, and you had a seriously injured Elite Jounin.

Kakashi crashed onto the ground, and he was in acute pain. It was even worse than he'd imagined being hit by one of Akira's chakra kicks.

"Kakashi-sensei!" a young voice shouted. Akira identified the owner of the voice as Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tailed Beast Jinchuuriki.

"_I seem to have sent him to Kakuzu's playground._"

Naruto's slitted eyes narrowed at seeing Akira, Akira's leg extended in a kick.

Slowly and deliberately Akira brought her leg down on the ground, as if taunting Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Akira heard one of Team Ten's members exclaim. It was female, so it was without a doubt the Yamanaka. Team Seven's female member was in Akira's line of sight, and she hadn't said anything, so she knew it wasn't her.

With a flash Akira suddenly stood a fair distance away from the gathered Konoha ninja with her hat on. Kakuzu, seeing a window of opportunity, used the same technique to stand beside Akira. "What took you so long, Akira?" he growled angrily. He had been bored out of his mind, even with the four new Konoha shinobi on the field. He had received a few nicks and scratches on his cloak, though. "_Have to hire someone to sew it back together. It'll cost a lot, though. I have to be more careful_."

Akira didn't utter a sound for a couple of moments, moments that the Konoha ninja used efficiently. The brown haired Jounin – Akira could tell that the guy was that rank, maybe even ANBU – ordered the pink haired girl pull Kakashi back and heal him. That told the two Akatsuki that she was a medic. The six combat ready Konoha shinobi regrouped and hastily devised a plan of action.

Kakuzu took the lead and said, "I'll take those-"

"We'll fight together this time, Kakuzu," Akira interrupted Kakuzu, something Akira knew he didn't like in any situation.

Kakuzu's eye twitched imperceptibly of being cut off, but his irritation lasted for a very short time. "Together?"

Akira nodded. Kakuzu grumbled. "Fine," he responded.

Akira wasn't finished, though. "Full out. I want them all dead."

Kakuzu wasn't surprised at hearing fury in her voice. "Full out? That's overkill, but fine. Add one more million to your debt to me."

Akira waved Kakuzu off. "Of course."

Kakuzu unzipped his cloak – they had a high value and were of high quality, so they did cost a lot of money, money that came out of _his_ pocket – and laid it over his left forearm. With a puff of smoke the robe disappeared.

Akira didn't react the same way as the Konoha shinobi Kakuzu's stitched body. She had already seen it, and even then she hadn't reacted as much as most would. She had just shrugged and accepted it.

The Konoha ninja though? They were positively stunned at the sight of Kakuzu's mangled, dark skinned, literally stitched together body. But when Kakuzu's body, with a heave from the said Akatsuki treasurer, began to expand, undoing the many black and thick threads, their expressions got even more horrified, to the point where if Akira had seen them she would have laughed. Or chuckled, whichever.

Kakuzu reached up and pulled the hood and mask off him, revealing his short black hair and the Glasgow smile that was stitched together instead of scarred, just like the rest of his body.

To be frank, Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear did creep Akira out. It just seemed like one of those 'give up your humanity for power' things. But in the end, Akira adopted one of Kakuzu's philosophies regarding people; if it works, don't try and change it.

"B-3," Kakuzu commanded in a low, gravelly voice. Then, with a mighty heave, Kakuzu's body expanded rapidly. But the thick threads did not split, instead undoing themselves. It was quite disturbing, because Kakuzu was human, just like the rest of them, but his body practically screamed 'inhuman'.

Out of the seams came many masses of black threads, darker than the strips holding the flimsy pieces of dark skin together. There were large clumps of inky wires knotted together that followed, and something even more disturbing was the fact that those bunched threads were _pulsating_, just like the beating heart of a living, breathing person. Each of the amorphous shapes had strange white masks on them, each having their own designated colours.

Akira still wasn't as shocked as the Konoha ninja. She had seen it before. She nodded slightly, "Agreed."

The black pulsing masses with masks on grew to great heights, double Kakuzu's, who by himself was already tall to begin with. And the threads created arms and legs, hands and feet. They all had strange skeletal wings, definitely not something that should be able to hold them up in the air.

The two Akatsuki simply stood as the six ready and able Konoha ninja prepared for battle. Akira lowered herself a bit, getting ready to run and kick. Kakuzu did much the same, except it was much more defensive than Akira's stance.

There were times where things were so tense that you could hear a pin drop on grass.

This was one of those times.

The deafening silence lasted for longer than any of them liked, the only sound being the writhing of the masked threads, Kakashi's gasps of pain and Sakura's healing chakra.

But when the silence ended, no one expected it to be because of a third party.

Something made the two Akatsuki members notice something, or seemingly so.

Akira's head twitched a bit. "For fucking real?" she exclaimed loudly.

Kakuzu merely grunted before the threads and the beating lumps of blackness receded back into his body, stitching the lesions together in a quite grotesque manner that unnerved the Konoha ninja further. "If Leader needs us then we'll respond, whether we want to or not. You know how impatient he can get."

Akira growled ferociously. "I know, and that's what pisses me off. There's a Jinchuuriki among them, the blonde kid. I'm pretty sure that we can seal his chakra off or some shit like that."

Kakuzu scowled at Akira, and pressed on. "You know that he needs to be sealed last. Keeping him is a waste of resources."

Akira growled murderously. She began rubbing her forehead, although no one could actually see it because of the hat. "I fucking know-" she sighed, calming herself down considerably. "I know that, Kakuzu. Let's just go."

Kakuzu grunted again, unsealed the Akatsuki robe that was in the seal on his forearm – the seal had been made by Akira, because she didn't want to hear Kakuzu's constant complaining of having to dirty the Akatsuki robes so often when they were about to fight – and put it on. He grabbed his hood and mask and put them on properly.

The actions surprised the Konoha shinobi. The Akatsuki clearly had the upper hand, and now they retreated? It didn't make a lot of sense to them.

Naruto didn't understand it, but he wouldn't forgive them for hurting Kakashi as much as they had. Naruto brought his hands up in a familiar hand seal, a hand seal that made Akira freeze.

"Shadow Clone technique," he said. And after two clones popped into existence, the real Naruto held his arm behind him, and the other two clones began to help Naruto create a big, big Rasengan, the Rasenshuriken.

It took maybe ten seconds, but as Kakuzu was about to walk away Akira held an arm out to stop him. Which Kakuzu did. Akira walked forward a few feet in front of Kakuzu and prepared for the Rasenshuriken.

"_Shadow clone, huh? Is Konoha really just going to let their Jinchuuriki use that dangerous technique? The technique can potentially kill him without him knowing about it. Granted, he is a Jinchuuriki, and add to that the fact that he has so goddamn much chakra, and he won't be in a lot of danger, but the danger still exists. Using elemental clones is a much better thing to do_," Akira thought. She continued, "_And that giant thing there. It's definitely dangerous. It feels similar to the Rasengan, now that I think about it. A lot similar._"

Then Akira really looked at the blonde boy, having to tip her hat up to see him. The shade was still covering her entire face up, so she wasn't in any danger.

What she saw was, to be honest, quite shocking.

"_Minato-sensei?_"

Akira quickly tipped her hat back down and shook her head. "_No, no, that's not Minato-sensei. Minato-sensei is taller, has a kinder face, and for god's sakes, is dead!_"

The bell like screech coming from Naruto's Rasenshuriken snapped Akira out of her stupor. She saw the four pointed Rasenshuriken, and she also saw the boy running at her with the huge technique in tow.

Akira didn't move, but Kakuzu jumped to a tree's branch, safely away from the vicinity.

Naruto rapidly approached the standing Akatsuki, and then pushed his hand forward, forcing the Rasenshuriken to hit Akira.

Akira was still standing motionless, as the Rasenshuriken hit her and forced her backwards, flying swiftly away for many dozens of yards, before the Rasenshuriken exploded in size, expanding and expanding, the dome of blue chakra enveloping the entire surroundings.

The Konoha ninja were surprised by Naruto's strong technique. But none of them were safe, and that made them realize that when they heard Akira's voice from behind them. "That's a dangerous technique, little Jinchuuriki. You should only use it when you _know_ that you'll hit your target. Otherwise it's a waste of valuable chakra."

They all turned around, and lo and behold, there stood the very same Akatsuki member that was hit by the Rasenshuriken.

If any of the opposing shinobi were to glance back they would have seen water flood only the very bottom of the crater made by the Rasenshuriken.

Akira shook her head and disappeared from view, appearing beside Kakuzu. "We're leaving. And if you chase us we will have no choice but to kill all of you and to trap your Jinchuuriki."

And then they both disappeared at the same time.

* * *

"What is this about, Leader? We were just fighting Konoha shinobi, _including_ Konoha's Jinchuuriki."

Let it be known that Akira didn't like being stopped when she was fighting.

"Calm down, Akira," the phantom figure of Pain said. "We are here to seal the Two-Tails away. We all need to focus on this."

Akira growled, "Fine, let's begin."

* * *

Three days created a way too big a window of opportunity for anyone to attack them, but thankfully no one had attacked them when they had been in those states.

Akira was merely concerned for her and her partner's safety when she brought it up to Pain's attention.

His only response was for Akira to 'deal with it'. That was when Akira destroyed a mountain with a single kick. Kakuzu was in a village far away from the mountain, but the noise alone was enough to garner suspicion from the surrounding settlements.

And now this? A raccoon, pissing on her robe? What god had she angered for this to happen to her? Oh, Kakuzu would be so very pissed if she let the urine stain the robe.

So, having such a kind heart, Akira kicked the raccoon into orbit – or kicking it into a fine bloody mist, whatever – and did a quick water technique to wash the repulsing liquid off her cloak.

She groaned when she saw the stain still there. She had to get a new cloak. Kakuzu would be so pissed. Pun totally intended.

"Hey, Kakuzu."

"What?"

"I need a new robe."

* * *

Kakuzu didn't like the fact that Akira had to buy a new cloak. And he did complain. A lot. Fortunately for Kakuzu, Akira wasn't annoyed or frustrated at Kakuzu, so he wasn't going to die any time soon via brutal kicks to the face.

But those thoughts were on neither of the Akatsuki partners.

What was on the forefront of their minds was the giant, four-tailed, red furred monkey ape thing smashing buildings and tearing apart roads like they were made out of paper.

The difficulty of fighting a Tailed Beast was always something Akira could look at with glee. She enjoyed a challenge, and when that challenge was something that was damn near unbeatable, then you'd have an exhilarated Akira.

The fight was definitely intense, and it helped immensely to take her mind off of Konoha. Dodging lava bullets and big hands that could crush you in an instant tends to do that.

Akira's literally hundreds of clones had made dozens of seals each, seals meant to destabilize the chakra and hinder its usage.

Didn't work as intended, but it had the benefit of making the Tailed Beast grow tired noticeably quicker.

The clones were very quickly destroyed, most evaporating into steam as they were made of water. Akira herself was busy trying to distract the Tailed Beast away from Kakuzu and her own clones. Kakuzu had pulled out all the stops in trying to take the Tailed Beast down, his four masks flying around and throwing devastating technique after devastating technique at the huge-ass gorilla. The techniques did little, but they helped with distracting the Tailed Beast away from the clones that made the multitude of – if used on humans – effective seals.

Whenever Akira hit the monkey, it was as if an extremely powerful earthquake was shaking the very foundation of the planet, as the monkey hit the ground every time. Akira was proud of her legs, sometimes even going so far as to call them 'thunder legs'. They struck like lightning, and the after-effects were as loud as thunder. So it was oddly appropriate.

If Kakuzu hadn't been partnered with Akira for so long he would be positively amazed by the strength in her – he still didn't know her real sex, and he didn't care – legs. But he had already been on the receiving end on one of them when they weren't enhanced by chakra, and it wasn't something he wanted to experience again.

He had never known that an arm could twist like that...

Finally, after well over half an hour of what could be considered a heart tearing, muscle bending, brain warping battle, the fight was over. It had take a lot out of the two, but they had done it.

They would both live. They were fine.

Except...

"Kakuzu. I think we both need a bath and a new cloak or two."

"Fuck."

* * *

"So how is the miser duo doing?" a man with blue skin asked humorously.

The phantom leader of Akatsuki replied to Kisame Hoshigaki, the man said to be, with the Samehada, a tailless Tailed Beast. "They have been hailed."

At that moment Akira and Kakuzu appeared in the huge hollow cave, an older, red haired man over Kakuzu's shoulder, both of them in pristine condition, albeit with Akira breathing more heavily than normal, something noticeable to even a civilian.

No one present questioned Akira's heavy breathing. They had both been fighting a Tailed Beast, after all.

Pain had already summoned the monstrous statue that the Tailed Beasts were supposed to be sealed into, so the only thing that was missing was the Jinchuuriki.

When Akira jumped onto the statue's left index finger. Kakuzu dropped the Iwagakure Jinchuuriki with no care at all and jumped to the statue's left middle finger, beside Akira.

And then they began the three day long technique to seal the entire Tailed Beast inside the statue.

To be honest, Akira didn't care about the Jinchuuriki's statuses as containers. She didn't care if they were to die a painful death. She didn't care about the misery the Jinchuuriki would experience through the sealing.

After all, it couldn't be worse than _living_ a painful life. Therefore, Akira had deemed that they instead deserved to die in peace. Death would bring them peace, not the process of dying itself.

Three long days. No interruptions. Just how things should go in gathering the rest of the Jinchuuriki. Now all they needed were the Eight Tailed Beast and the Nine Tailed Beast.

How gloriously annoying it would be to hear the Eight Tailed Beast's container's infamously bad raps.

* * *

The sealing was finally done, after three long days of sealing the impressive statue.

It was the meeting after the sealing of the Four Tailed Beast that Akira caught wind of something. Apparently Orochimaru's prized student, Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, had killed him. She heard Kisame talk to Itachi about it, yet predictably Itachi did not react.

It was also after collecting a couple of abnormally high bounties – considering that they were bandits, as in people not using chakra – that Akira and Kakuzu were told by Zetsu, the creepy half-white, half-black, multiple personality disordered Akatsuki spy, that Deidara and Tobi, the new guy, died from Deidara's C0 technique.

It was unfortunate that Deidara died, but neither Akira or Kakuzu really cared about him to begin with. They both saw him as a person who was simply there to help with the sealing of the Tailed Beasts.

But Akira was tired of walking. So she retreated back to Amegakure, to the Akatsuki's base. Kakuzu didn't mind. He had some treasury business to take care of.

So it was with a heavy heart and a heavy mind that Akira collapsed onto her – really, _really_ – comfortable bed.

And slept all her worries away.

"_Because _my god_ I need some beauty sleep._"

* * *

"Konan?"

"Yes, Akira?"

"I... uh..."

"Do you need a tampon again?"

Akira nodded shyly, a heavy blush covering her entire body. The very first week Akira joined Akatsuki she had sought out Konan's help with her period. Akira was only eighteen when she got it, and she had never known what to do with it. She had been too embarrassed to ask anyone about it. She hadn't even asked her psychologist, Tsunade.

The reason she asked Konan was because she was panicking. And that Konan already knew of Akira's real sex to begin with. So that was a plus.

"I think I have it somewhere here," Konan said calmly, stood up and walked to a room that was connected to the living room. They were in Konan's apartment, so it was Konan who knew where everything was. Konan gestured for Akira to follow, which the younger did.

After a humiliating experience, Akira was fully equipped for the rest of the day.

* * *

Three days later, and changing tampons, Akira got a signal from Pain. It was a call that she responded to as fast as possible.

Akira stood stiffly, her hat hanging behind her head. Pain was one of the few people who knew about her real gender, so it wasn't exactly necessary to wear the hat. "What is the problem, Leader?"

The orange headed leader of Akatsuki replied, "There is a breach. Someone has infiltrated our base of operations. I need you to deal with it."

Akira nodded, "I will," and left to deal with the intruder.

* * *

Even with her hat on she knew that the intruder was someone she already knew. "Jiraiya of the Legendary Three. What a... pleasant surprise."

Jiraiya jumped away from Akira, surprised. "_How- I didn't even sense him!_"

Inwardly Akira was shaking with fury. Jiraiya, huh? One of the people who 'cared' about her? "_Yeah right. No one cares about me but myself._"

But outwardly it looked as if Akira was just standing still.

Jiraiya prepared himself. He knew it wasn't time for any kind of jokes, so he simply stood tall, in his battle stance, ready for anything.

But he couldn't have prepared for the kick to his kidney.

The kick was so strong that it sent him crashing through the concrete wall, making the normally tough and unyielding concrete crumble and collapse.

Jiraiya was in pain. It was nothing like the pain from Naruto's four tailed form, or when he was caught peeping on Tsunade, though, so he would survive.

He shoved a large piece of rubble off him. Once he got up his hands essentially flew through the required hand seals for the Fire Release, Flame Bullet. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.

And out came a massive ball of fire, a fire that enveloped the Akatsuki member completely.

Jiraiya knew that Akira was not hit. That was why, with his experience, he used another technique to bury himself into the ground and avoid the incredibly mighty kick that would otherwise give him loads of pain.

Akira's leg sailed right over Jiraiya's head, missing by not even an inch. Akira's leg brushed the hair aside, and Jiraiya felt even the air pressure generated by the force of Akira's kick. "_If I got hit by that, I'd definitely be dead. I need to be careful,_" Jiraiya surmised.

With being in the ground Jiraiya thought that he couldn't be attacked directly by the Akatsuki criminal.

Oh how wrong he was.

Jiraiya's sensing ability wasn't something he was proud of. It was not up to par with what his reputation as one of the strongest ninja to still be alive was.

But it was adequate enough that he could feel where someone was. "_How does he always know where I am?_"

And then he heard a really loud crack, the sound of shattering concrete.

"_Uh oh,_" he thought right before he dashed away with the help of his chakra, avoiding the majority of the fissured flooring.

Jiraiya's dash was hastily intercepted by an angry Akira, who kicked the white haired man in the back, sending him diving straight to the already thoroughly destroyed floor, crushing it even further.

Jiraiya was not having a good time at all. This was Akatsuki, and so far it was proved that he was amazingly fast, faster than what he thought was possible without some kind of space-time technique.

So, in light of that, he went through five hand seals. Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram. He slammed his hand down, and with a gigantic puff of smoke, an enormous toad arrived. The red toad had black markings on his face, hands and feet, the rest being covered by a proportionally normal sized kimono with a white sash. The toad had some kind of spear with spikes on them, and a shield that looked like an overturned cracked china plate.

And then he talked. Akira was only saddened and angered by the fact that the toad speaking reminded her of her sensei, Minato Namikaze. "Ah, I see you have summoned me, Jiraiya," he said.

Jiraiya answered quickly, and he didn't break his gaze away from Akira. "I'm afraid I haven't summoned you for pleasantries, Gamaken. I need you to distract while I go for Sage Mode!"

Jiraiya knew that without his Sage Mode he would, at best, be able to fight this guy to a stalemate.

And Jiraiya needed to win. So Sage Mode was the answer.

"I will try my best, even though I'm too clumsy to do so for a long time," the toad said, its deep voice echoing in the hollow tower.

Akira cracked her neck and her knuckles. "I will gladly see you try and confront Leader. He is to not be disturbed, and you're obviously intent on doing just that."

Akira slid her foot back a bit, getting ready to jump and kick Jiraiya to death. "And besides, you're one of, if not, the strongest shinobi of Konoha as of this time. It'll be a pleasure to kill you _myself_."

* * *

**Author's note:** I'm frowning a bit right now. I'm sick, and I believe it has something to do with my mental state. I don't know why, because I think I have it pretty damn good. And another thing... this chapter is shorter than the previous one, and I'm not even sure if it's of the same quality.

Also, there's a reason why Kakuzu and Akira initiated that "C-6" thing. It was actually a means to spy on the Konoha ninja, as in the Konoha shinobi were instead chasing (not fighting) clones Akira made.

And Akira is probably very, very overpowered. I know that, and realize it. So I'll just give out her statistics, a la Naruto databook:

Ninjutsu: 5

Taijutsu: 5

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 4,5

Strength: 5

Speed: 5

Stamina: 5

Hand seals: 4

Total: 35.5

I hope none of you are turned off by Akira's overpowered nature. But she _is_ an S-ranked criminal prodigy of prodigies. But that alone is overpowered, I know, I know. But now it's already done. I just hope none of you are going to turn away from my story.


	3. The Sun Isn't Shining Just Yet

Now standing on top of Gamaken, his hands clapped together as he tried to summon Fukasaku and Shima, Jiraiya was completely serious. It would take a couple of minutes, minutes Jiraiya hoped Gamaken would be able to provide.

Unfortunately for the two, they weren't used to fighting someone as fast and powerful as Akira together.

Despite his size, Gamaken was fast and agile, qualities that helped quite a bit when it became apparent that Akira's legs were the focus of her physical strikes. But neither Jiraiya or Gamaken knew how to exploit that, because Akira was simply too fast for either of them to take advantage of her upper body weakness. Whenever Akira kicked she either missed or hit Gamaken's shield. And if it wasn't for Jiraiya's seals that hardened the upside down plate, it would have broken by the very first kick.

Akira jumped up unto a wall as the floor that she stood on was hit by Gamaken's staff, tearing the concrete into small pieces of rubble.

As she landed on the wall she jumped again, but the kick-off was so hard that it shattered part of the wall, the debris becoming lethal projectiles. Akira rapidly approached Jiraiya and Gamaken through the air, and as she got close enough she finally was able to strike. She enhanced her leg with a tad bit too little chakra than she had liked to use. She was fighting a Konoha shinobi, after all. And she wanted to kill Jiraiya, not the toad. The toad reminded her of Minato. Killing the toad would be like disgracing Minato's memory.

The kick was so hard that it sent Gamaken flying with great speeds through the tower, making the entire section of the wall collapse in on itself. The spires that Gamaken collided with cracked and crumbled under his great weight. The toad attached himself onto one of the broken towers and held steadfast onto the crushed edge of the building.

The hold was secure, but actually staying there? Not safe.

Through the smoke and debris Akira jumped, practically flying towards Jiraiya. Gamaken didn't see Akira, because she jumped from one of his blind spots. Therefore Gamaken lost his grip of the building when pain shot through his entire body, focused on the side of the elbow, the arm holding the shield.

The pain wasn't something that made Gamaken lose his shield, though. He had a ridiculous pain tolerance. There was no way he would disappoint the toad sage Jiraiya.

So with minimal effort – minimal, because the pain was more along the lines of heavy discomfort – Gamaken threw the feeling aside and used the moment to bash with the shield. He didn't hit anything, but he wasn't supposed to. He was supposed to stall for Jiraiya until he summoned Ma and Pa.

Fortunately for Gamaken, the time was nigh for his departure from Ame.

"Gamaken! That's all I need! Go!" Jiraiya shouted urgently. He was concerned for the reliable giant toad, that much was obvious.

Then, before Gamaken disappeared with the standard puff of smoke, two very small ones came into being on Jiraiya's shoulders. One was a purple toad with a pale green underside, with, of all things, a high collared cape. On Jiraiya's other shoulder was a green toad, with white hair styled a bit like a mohawk, and thick white eyebrows over his yellow eyes with horizontally slitted pupils, the same eyes being shared by both Gamaken and the purple toad.

"What are you up to now, Jiraiya boy, summoning us in the middle of dinner?" the purple toad exclaimed loudly. "You know our schedules! We have dinner now! We'll miss it because of you!"

The green toad spoke up before Jiraiya could retort, "Now now, dear, there is without a doubt a reason for why the boy called for us."

Then the same toad turned to Jiraiya and asked nervously, "Isn't that right, Jiraiya boy? Why did you summon us?"

Jiraiya nodded as his features changed. His nose widened and got warts like that of a toad's, his eyes whitened and his pupils became horizontally slit, skin webbed his fingers and toes together, granting him an even more toad like appearance. His red geta sandals had been discarded, so his feet were free and able to grow properly. "Yeah. I need Sage Mode to beat this Akatsuki," he said sternly, his voice having absolutely no humour or jubilation in it whatsoever.

The lack of any kind of light-heartedness surprised the two old toads. They knew that if Jiraiya was this serious then it could only spell bad things to come.

That was why they said nothing, and only sat completely still, letting the surrounding natural chakra to get into Jiraiya's system, with them acting as proxies.

With exceptional speed Jiraiya darted towards the still Akira. If Akira had not been as fast as she was she would have been hit. Thankfully she was still faster than Jiraiya, even when he was in Sage Mode, albeit only slightly so.

The following minutes were much different than before. Now it was Jiraiya that was chasing Akira, not the other way around. Normally Akira would be able to at least get a hit in. But with the Sage chakra enhancing his already impressive arsenal of techniques and his body, it made it far too difficult for Akira to get a hit in, even when she resorted to using clones. Jiraiya just used his hair techniques to hit the clones to make them lose their solidity, rendering them useless.

Akira relished in the tough fight. She finally could prove her mettle against Konoha's strongest shinobi, proving not only to herself, but to Akatsuki that she was not to be messed with, and that allies of Konoha and the village itself was in mortal danger, that they could never do anything to avoid certain death, not with her on their worthless tail.

She was breathing very hard, though. "Damn bindings..." she thought, frustrated. Her breathing only worsened as both the excitement and the exhaustion got to her. Her vast stamina was drying up, something she'd never really experienced against anyone except Minato and when the Jinchuuriki went into their Tailed Beast modes. Not even those high bounties could compare to the sheer fatigue she was feeling. The weariness wasn't something she enjoyed, though.

She didn't simply enjoy the feeling of tiredness.

She practically ate it all up.

She loved the challenge, she loved the strength of her opponent, and she loved that her opponent was from Konoha, the one village she hated with all her being, and that she would kill their strongest shinobi. The village's overall might would drop substantially with Jiraiya's death, and the shinobi corps would be racked with a loss of morale.

Konoha would eventually feel a little of her own despair. It would plummet into complete grief from which it would never recover. Then her revenge against the village would be complete, and she could wipe her bloodied and dirtied hands free of the filth Konoha had stained her with.

But for now the piece of Konoha scum before her would have to be beaten, preferably killed.

She had to jump backwards and sideways more times than she cared to count. Jiraiya was like a totally different opponent when he was in that annoying Sage Mode of his.

"Che, agile fellow, aren't you?" Jiraiya voiced after his opponent leapt away from yet another Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

Akira didn't reply, focusing all her attention on avoiding Jiraiya's attacks without revealing her identity. "Because god knows that if I blow it, Jiraiya will die. Damn bindings, damn seals not being able to reduce mass..."

Akira did hand stands and back flips, front flips and side hops. It was all to avoid getting struck by Jiraiya's swift and destructive onslaught. Akira was having a ball jumping away, because her abilities were being tested and her limits pushed.

And then she began to notice a pattern in Jiraiya's attacks. Whenever Jiraiya's techniques and physical fortitude began to lose intensity the toads would stop assisting Jiraiya on the offensive. Originally Akira thought it was to conserve chakra, but then she focused chakra sensory abilities.

And she discovered that the surrounding energy – she really had to learn what that was – actually entered Jiraiya through the toads, and that the natural chakra strengthened the Konoha shinobi, rejuvenating him.

_'__So the toads act as catalysts for Jiraiya's little enhancement technique. Must have discovered that use of the toads after I left Konoha_,' Akira thought.

Now she knew what to target. Her stamina was reaching its end, and there was no way she'd lose to even the strongest shinobi from Konoha.

With a burst of what little chakra she had left she turned the tide. Jiraiya was honestly a bit surprised at the turn of events, but even more so when he saw that Akira wasn't even targeting him.

It was only a single moment after Shima and Fukasaku were kicked so hard that they dispelled that realization hit him. "He's going straight for the toads! He has discovered why I was able to fight for so long!"

Akira was still not having a physically good time. Her body was metaphorically screaming at her to stop and take a rest. The lactic acid build-up was getting near unbearable. Her chakra levels were depleting. Her body was going into shock from the exertion.

Akira loved it.

She was actually grinning, and she was getting careless. The bindings that held her chest back was getting annoyingly confining, but if she released the binds her cover would be blown. Jiraiya still had enough chakra to flee, and her pride was telling her that if that were to happen, then she would never forgive herself.

That was what she would have thought if she were in the right state of mind.

She threw her hat aside, her blonde hair that was usually in a ponytail loosened from its hair band. The grin that played on her lips was all but splitting her face in two. She loved the fight.

She wasn't bloodthirsty. She didn't long to kill others. She wanted to have her borders pushed, her abilities put to the absolute test, her aptitudes being analysed through combat. When those things were all in place she would be happy.

Jiraiya's surprise was minimal. Despite his constant displays of perversity and idiocy, he hadn't been a shinobi for forty eight years, survived two Great Shinobi Wars, become one of the greatest shinobi of all time, and led a spy network without becoming extremely intelligent and cunning.

"Akira. I was afraid it was you."

Akira pulled her arm into her robe without pulling the cape off, and released the bindings that limited her breathing severely.

Now free of their enclosure, the front of her cloak pushed dramatically outwards. Akira sighed in relief. She couldn't remember the last time she took the chest wraps off that didn't include hygienic reasons. Not even the Tailed Beasts and Jinchuuriki she had fought had pushed her this far, but that was only because she had partners to help her, and the fact that she hadn't really had the time to take them off when she needed to.

"What happened to you, Akira?" Jiraiya asked. His Sage Mode was fading slowly, and it was gone before long. He noticed a significant decrease in chakra reserves. He was maybe at twenty percent of full reserves, as opposed to when he started, and at the start of the fight he had barely used any chakra.

Akira, in contrast to Jiraiya, was gleeful. Akira didn't want to kill. She wanted to fight. She idly noted that she had barely any chakra left. Maybe an Academy student's worth was left in her system, and that was being generous. It was far from enough to defeat Jiraiya, unless she used seals. But even then she'd require chakra to activate the seals. Chakra she just couldn't use. She would have to use seals that would explode or otherwise harm often to hit Jiraiya, and if her sensing was to be trusted, then Jiraiya's remaining chakra supply was much higher than her own. She would have to use the seal that would contact Konan. It was to be used only for emergency situations, and despite Akira's want to defeat someone who was much more powerful than her, everything considered, she deemed the current situation as an emergency.

Slowly, and frowning, she brought a hand to her neck. Then she channelled a minimal amount of chakra to the seal. Akira felt a brief moment of dizziness before it was cleared. She knew it was because of her lack of chakra. While she had excellent chakra control she was exhausted, which lowered the control she had, which meant that she had sent a bit too much chakra into the calling seal.

Konan had to have felt the Seal of Tethered Transmission activating.

Now it was to survive until she could arrive and take over. It should be easy enough to delay the toad sage for long enough, given that he was stricken dumb.

"Why, Akira? Why haven't you come back yet?" he hesitantly asked. He was dumbstruck, because he couldn't believe what Tsunade had told him at first. He had honestly thought that his student's student – and sometimes his student – was dead, because his spy network had come up with absolutely nothing for so long.

Akira's mood lowered instantly by remembering who her opponent was, making her growl angrily. "I don't care what you're going to say, Jiraiya-sensei. You're not going to talk me back to Konoha. I don't care about Konoha! I don't care about you, or Kakashi, or Tsunade! I don't care one fucking bit! Don't misunderstand, you lecher. I didn't join Akatsuki to enact revenge on that pitiful excuse of a Hidden Village. I joined Akatsuki to create world peace. I'm not one for revenge because of what someone has done to me. I do want to destroy Konoha, but it'll be because Konoha has done too much!"

Jiraiya shook his head and replied, "I know what Konoha has done-"

Akira furiously cut Jiraiya off with a list of quickly given facts, "ANBU ignoring Konoha's civilians when they needed help. Uchiha Police Force doing the exact same thing. Denying missions that would help people that really need the help because they didn't pay enough money, despite the future benefits helping would give. Killing entire families needlessly. Torturing innocent people, setting them free, then releasing them broken, and never compensated or brought back to their families. I can go on if you're still not convinced!"

Even with each and every accusation, Jiraiya's face remained stern, though his frown deepened. Akira was completely correct. He had come to terms with the state of affairs a long time ago, though he still yearned to change it. Unlike Akira, however...

"I know that Konoha isn't as perfect as we make it out to be, but-"

Again he was interrupted by Akira. "Konoha is better than the rest of the Hidden Villages? How the fuck does doing any of that at all make it right?! Killing innocents that were just in the wrong place in the wrong time when you could have just sealed away their memories? Not helping those civilians that needed it? Killing entire families without being ordered to? Torturing the undeserving? How does the fact that other Hidden Villages do the same things make it right? Konoha claims to be the strongest, to have the best moral codes, but in truth, just the fact that they even say that is proof that they're a bunch of pretentious assholes! They're arrogant! They think that everything they're doing is right when it's not!"

Akira's rage was to be expected to the two people that fulfilled the role of audience. The woman of the two flew down slowly, her paper wings making her descend at a harmless speed.

"That is enough, Akira. You are free to go now," Konan said calmly, and put a hand on the enraged woman's shoulder.

Akira clenched her fists so hard that her palms bled. Konan noticed the blood dripping from Akira's hands, and continued to try and calm her down. "Akira, calm down. Now."

Akira slackened her fists with monumental effort, and let go of her breath shakily. She nodded stiffly and walked away to the orange haired leader of Akatsuki that also watched Akira's rant together with Konan.

They had responded within the second that Konan had felt the Seal of Tethered Transmission activate. Konan had panicked when she felt a bit too much of an effect from the seal than required, although Pain would be the only one who would see the emotion, given that Konan's control over her own emotions was incredible.

Akira walked until she was besides Pain. "I'm sorry for losing my cool and calling upon you, Pain," Akira whispered.

Pain turned his head slightly towards Akira and gave a short nod. "Akatsuki will be severely crippled if you die, Akira. And I personally would rather not have that."

Akira smiled bitterly. "Yeah... Nagato."

Pain gestured to the corridor they had come from. "I suggest that you go and get some rest. You earned it. Leave the rest to us."

* * *

Akira slammed her head against the tough wooden wall of her bedroom so hard that her forehead bruised and began bleeding. "Dammit..." she thought distressingly. Akira pounded the wall with her clenched fist. "Fucking dammit... Jiraiya-sensei, why do you continuously side with Konoha? You already know what Konoha is responsible for! You already know what they've done! Why do you seriously think that Konoha is still worth dying for? Why, Jiraiya-sensei? Minato-sensei is dead! His opinion doesn't matter anymore! Nothing of his matters anymore! Why, Jiraiya-sensei? Why?"

The tears leaking from Akira's eyes dripped off her chin and straight onto the dark carpeted floor.

"I hope Nagato and Konan kill Jiraiya-sensei as quickly as possible. While Jiraiya-sensei still sides with that despicable village, he has been my sensei before. He doesn't deserve a painful death..."

Akira flopped herself onto her fluffy bed and the large pillow cushioning the blow. She covered her eyes with the crook of her elbow. Despite that Akira's tears still poured past her arm. Akira's breath was shaky from the lump in her throat that didn't let her sob.

"Dammit all. I need to think of something else... what can I think of? Well, there was that one time where Konan and I went after the Five Tails..."

* * *

"Konan, Akira," Pain's voice echoed throughout the small hollow mountain.

"Yes?" Konan's soft and mature female voice responded. Akira was unresponsive, but Pain knew that she was listening.

"You two are to capture the Five Tails while the rest are going to gather bounties."

Deidara quipped, "Awesome! Bounties, eh? I'll get that annoying little wannabe S-ranked ninja from Iwa. You want to come with me, master Sasori? I won't wait for you, though, hm!"

"And listen to your ramblings about your fake art? No," Sasori's deep, guttural voice spoke.

"I will take the bandits from Taki," Kakuzu's gravelly voice uttered before Deidara and Sasori could go into a raving argument that would surely destroy the cave.

Akira and Konan stayed for only one more moment before disappearing with the distinct flicker of the Magic Lantern Body technique dispelling.

Akira was already present inside the main Akatsuki tower, so it took very little time for the two women to meet each other.

"Are you prepared, Akira?" Konan asked stoically. Akira had been in Akatsuki for a year, so it had been three years since she had branded herself a missing-nin of Konoha. Despite the year of service to the criminal organization, Konan didn't trust Akira. She simply seemed too... mysterious, so to speak.

Akira was still very naïve in the ways of criminals and shinobi, even with the many years of experience under her belt. She had been in the ANBU program for three years, two of which she served as an ANBU Captain. The last three years she had spent in Konoha had been as a sensei for a team. A team Akira had deemed a success, until a certain tragedy befell it.

Konan knew of that incident. Mist ninja had attacked viciously and without mercy, and had killed Akira's team while they were doing a high risk mission in Mist territory. Akira had been able to kill the attacking shinobi, but she was too late to save her team. It had scarred her immensely, and had it not been for Tsunade, Akira would have definitely committed some kind of fatal self harm.

Akira nodded, not saying a thing. Akira thought it best to not talk, afraid that her voice might betray her nervousness. This was her first Jinchuuriki hunt, after all. She had prepared herself as much as she thought was necessary. She had many small scrolls with storage seals written on them that would expel powerful explosive paper tags with but a single hand sign and a flare of her chakra. She had so many of those small scrolls that she devised a storage seal array on her coat that would send a set number of them out at the same time at the speed of a standard thrown kunai.

Konan wasn't as nervous as Akira. She had dealt with Jinchuuriki before, and while they were certainly not something to sneeze at, she was confident that she could still be able to defeat it with the help of another S-ranked shinobi, even if said S-ranked ninja was inexperienced in fighting Jinchuuriki.

"Then let us go."

* * *

Both the Akatsuki members were sitting on a bench in a tea shop in the Land of Stones. They had, with the help of Zetsu, found the Jinchuuriki of the Five Tailed Beast. He was a big man, no question about it. His red armour alone made him stand out more than he probably should have liked. The constant steam coming from the thing tied to his back made him more noticeable than he already was.

Currently he was slowly walking out of the city they were in.

"That's our target," Konan whispered behind the shadow of the tasselled hat.

Akira's only answer was to take a small sip of the green tea in the white porcelain cup. Konan took it as a confirmation.

"We will wait until he is in an unpopulated area. Then we will ambush him. We must be swift," the blue haired woman added.

This time Akira's response was to nod. If Konan hadn't specifically looked for it, she wouldn't have seen Akira's hand that was holding the tea cup shaking.

In order to comfort the shaking woman, Konan put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We will be able to do this."

Akira's head turned to Konan. Konan barely heard Akira's somewhat unstable breathing calming down, and she wouldn't have if she didn't know it was there.

Konan jerked her head to the side, indicating that they should go. They left after paying for the tea and leaving a small tip for whoever picked the money up.

They followed the Jinchuuriki, lagging behind quite a bit to remain undetected and seem as inconspicuous as possible. It was difficult, especially given their choice of clothing.

But once the red armoured Jinchuuriki reached a clearing far away from any settlement he turned around to face his two pursuers. "I know who you are and what you want with me," he said. His voice was deep, but had a certain young tone to it. "You are here for the Tailed Beast inside me, correct?"

Konan took the lead and took her hat off. Her stoic eyes locked with Han's. "Yes. And am I correct to assume that you will not come peacefully?"

Han nodded. It was then that Akira noticed that his chakra suddenly built up to levels far higher than her own and the older Konan's. "He is preparing his chakra," Akira whispered before moulding her own chakra to help her. She prepared for some tough fighting, and she would only admit it to herself that she would enjoy it.

Konan subtly nodded while Han responded. "You would be right. I will not let someone steal that which belongs to Iwa, and neither will I let you take away my life!"

It was then that Akira became a black and red blur that was streaking towards Han. The Jinchuuriki expected such, having fought many that would use the Tailed Beast inside him for less honourable deeds.

That was why, with steam gushing out of the tubes on the backpack on his back, he punched the ground, creating large fissures to crack the earth apart. The violent shaking sent Akira tumbling, sliding down a flipped piece of hard earth. Akira's speed worked to keep her steady, however, and she righted mid-air and vaulted over the crack.

Konan flew up with the help of her paper wings, and thus escaped the cracking earth. She flew forward and with a swing of her wings, she sent sharp pieces of paper at Han. The paper made a few cuts in his red armour, but it was far from enough to cut through it. The paper lodged themselves in the ground behind Han, followed by Han running at the still somewhat disoriented Akira, intending to pound her flesh in with the help of his steam armour.

Akira sensed and saw Han approaching rapidly, so she acted accordingly. Her legs pushed her up from the moving earth, sending her up into the air, far enough to dodge Han's devastating punch. Konan caught Akira and threw her a small distance away from Han, making her avoid being blown away by the hot steam shooting out of the holes in his backpack.

Seeing as she was so close to Han, Konan threw her wings forward, sending many sharp paper shuriken, aimed at Han's face. Han anticipated an attack from the paper angel, and saw it to begin with. The Jinchuuriki simply tilted his head so that his red hat covered his face. When the many paper shuriken collided with the steel hat, the clang not heard over the soil still shaking violently.

Han had enough time to jump back. He realized that he had his work cut out for him. He was confident that he would still be able to win, but these people were obviously very skilled, and he could deduct that despite not having fought for a lengthy period.

Konan flew back as Akira stormed past a small cloud of dirt. Akira released one of the seals, sending one of the small scrolls towards Han. Han didn't know what the scroll was for but he wasn't about to find out. His fist sailed through the air, and just as Akira jumped away and his fist collided with the scroll, a powerful explosion rocked the clearing. The explosion was so powerful that it completely evaporated the dirt it affected.

But Han was unharmed as his body was covered by a bubbling shroud of reddish orange chakra.

Then he disappeared, and it was only Akira's experience fighting ridiculously fast enemies that made her see Han aiming for her head. She ducked under it as Konan's paper flooded Han's position.

Thus followed a fast exchange of attacks, punches, kicks, whole body throws, everything the combatants could think of, everything was thrown at each other. Akira kicked as much as she could, and if it weren't for her seals, they wouldn't have as many opportunities getting a hit in on the Jinchuuriki. But Han, while possessing extreme strength, also had unprecedented speed and control, given his status as a jailer to one of the greatest beings in existence.

Akira couldn't remember much of the fight. It was far too blurry. Dust and dirt flew by too fast for her to see, logs being used as substitutions so often that it was virtually impossible to get a clear foothold on the destroyed ground without at least hitting wood.

One thing she could remember was being so immensely tired. She had never felt that feeling before. The thrill, the emotions running through her, she never knew that she could feel as if she belonged again after leaving Konoha. But here she was, fighting a Jinchuuriki alongside an Akatsuki ally, Konan.

The last moment she saw was after Han transformed into the Five Tailed Beast.

Han charged a black ball in front of his mouth, swallowed it, and spat out a narrow – if you were to take the Beast's size in proportion – beam of yellow destruction.

Akira pushed Konan out of the way.

She died from being struck by the chakra. Konan had told her that her torso, from her left hip, curving inwards to her stomach, and then her left shoulder, had simply disappeared. There was no blood, seeing as the heat from the beam of chakra cauterized the flesh.

Akira didn't know what happened after that, or how Konan won. She assumed that it was because that technique was a last resort.

Akira woke up in a comfortable bed. Konan was beside her. The blue haired woman saw Akira awakening and stood up to look her into the eyes. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

Akira blinked. Her mind was very much in a clutter, her memories telling her that she should have been fighting the Jinchuuriki together with the woman beside her. "What... happened?"

Konan closed her eyes for a moment before replying. "You were struck by the Jinchuuriki's Menacing Ball. It was fatal," she replied stoically.

Akira was confused and sat up. "Fatal? But... how am I here, then?"

Akira heard footsteps on the other side of her bed, so she looked to see the leader of Akatsuki standing there, a couple meters away from the bed. "That would be me," he said.

Akira blinked, startled. "I... I see," she stammered, before diverting her gaze to her lap.

Konan looked at Pain, and if Akira had looked at the woman, she would have seen a scowl on her.

Pain closed his eyes and began to talk. "Konan and I have been discussing about a certain issue regarding your loyalty, Akira."

Akira's eyes snapped to Pain's. Unperturbed, Pain continued. "If your recent actions are anything to go by, your loyalty is unquestioning. However, I would like to hear it in your own words."

Akira's eyebrows shot up to her hairline, but she quickly stepped out of the bed, and didn't even flinch or try to hide her gender. She bowed deeply, so deeply that her forehead was planted onto the floor. "My loyalty resides with Akatsuki, and only Akatsuki. I promise you this, Leader. I will never betray you."

Pain looked at Konan, who looked pleased, albeit it could only be seen by him. "I was not talking about your loyalty to Akatsuki."

Akira stiffened, but didn't stand up.

"I was talking about your loyalty to me and Konan."

Akira's shoulders slackened for a moment before tensing again. She pressed her forehead harder onto the floor. "I pledge myself to yours and Konan's service, Leader."

'_Unshakable devotion... shouldn't be surprised, given her past and that she feels as if she belongs here,_' Nagato thought.

Pain nodded, no emotion playing on his face. "Very well. Follow me and I will show you something I hope I won't regret."

Akira was a bit surprised, but after being given privacy to bind her breasts and put on a covering outfit, she followed Pain and Konan to the deeper parts of the main Akatsuki tower.

They stood before a large concrete door when Konan motioned for Akira to take a step forward. "The true leader of Akatsuki is behind these doors, Akira."

Akira's eyes widened underneath her newly donned hat, but she shook the thoughts out of her mind. '_I'll get answers from them,_' she thought.

And with that, she pushed the door open.

The room was dark, lit by only a single candle that stood on a table.

A voice cut through the darkness, a voice Akira had never heard before. "Hello, Akira."

That was when she saw Nagato for the first time in her life.

* * *

Akira's tears stopped as she thought of that moment. Her lips curved upwards in a smile. "Thank you, Nagato, Konan. You rescued me from myself. I owe you both my life," Akira said to the empty air.

She removed her arm from her reddened eyes. She sighed and rubbed them before standing up and going to the shower, idly noticing that Jiraiya's chakra signature was fading rapidly, a clear sign of death.

"Nagato's plan for world peace requires Jiraiya-sensei's death," Akira said to herself as she reached for the valve for hot water. "Nagato doesn't enjoy killing, but he will gladly throw aside his emotions if it is for the greater good."

* * *

Akira stood in front of a group of four teenagers, her hat covering her face properly. '_Karin, female, a__pproximately__ sixteen years old, red hair, red eyes. Abilities, sensor, healing. Threat assessment, low threat. Suigetsu Hozuki, male, a__pproximately__ sixteen years old, white hair, purple eyes. Abilities, swordsmanship, water based techniques that allow him to change his body into water. Threat assessment, low-medium threat. Juugo, male, a__pprox__ sixteen years old, orange hair, orange eyes. Abilities, unknown, assume dangerous. Threat assessment, medium-high threat. Male teenager, __approximately__ sixteen years old, black hair, black eyes, clearly Sasuke Uchiha, __younger __brother of Itachi Uchiha, __former apprentice of Orochimaru__. Abilities, __three tomoe __Sharingan, lightning and fire techniques, __apparent aptitude for the art of swords, possible snake summoning contract, possibly annulled followed by betrayal of Manda__. Threat assessment, high-low threat._'

Akira sighed, '_What a rag-tag group of misfits._'

Suigetsu heard the sigh, and turned his attention to her. "Hey."

Akira frowned, though none of them could see it. "What?" she growled dangerously.

Unknowing, or uncaring, of her ire, Suigetsu continued. "I know what you're thinking. You think we're weak, don't you?"

"Yes," Akira replied bluntly.

Suigetsu's eye twitched. He was about to continue, presumably more irately if his irritated expression was anything to go by, when Sasuke interrupted. "Suigetsu. Stop."

Akira sighed again and Suigetsu huffed. "Let's just go," Akira impatiently ordered.

* * *

The trip to the Land of Lightning was surprisingly short, but if one were to ask Akira, she would immediately say that it could not have been short enough. Suigetsu and Karin kept arguing about the smallest of topics, Suigetsu usually the one to instigate the red head's wrath.

If it weren't for the fact that Akira had loads of experience dealing with annoying people – Deidara's and Sasori's very frequent spats came to mind – she'd have snapped and killed them both.

The only reason she was together with the newly minted Akatsuki members was because Nagato wanted her to see how strong they were, individually and as a group. Akira would step in only if they were in immediate danger, otherwise she'd be laying low and in hiding.

Akira didn't like it, but she'd deal with it. It was for world peace, after all, so dealing with nuisances like these was worth it.

They arrived at the Valley of Clouds and Lightning and ascended up the steep steps of a crafted plateau, at the top of which was a flat surface dotted with few shrubbery.

The plateau was empty save for six people. The ones from Akatsuki and the Eight Tailed Beast's Jinchuuriki.

Akira stopped at the top of the stairs, letting the group called "Taka" go first. "You four are to defeat the Jinchuuriki. I will only interfere if any of your lives are in danger."

The Uchiha nodded, his face a blank mask while the rest of Taka didn't respond.

They walked past Akira.

'_I don't know what Nagato is thinking, these children __aren't__ old enough or skilled enough to even consider confronting a Jinchuuriki. __Especially not one Minato-sensei himself thought was dangerous_,' Akira thought grumpily. Minato had informed her, among others, of the handful of encounters he had with the rapping multi-sword wielding Kumo ninja. He'd spoken of him with respect, and cautioned them against taking action when facing them.

And as it turned out, fifteen minutes later, what Akira thought was very true. The best fighter was doubtlessly the Uchiha, but the orange haired Juugo was a fairly close second, followed closely by the annoying white haired guy. The girl was the weakest.

But why was it true? Because the Jinchuuriki just called upon his Tailed Beast and overpowered them with sheer force of raw strength. Akira had actually never seen a successful transformation of a Jinchuuriki's human body to a Tailed Beast's body. Apparently, the relationship between the Jinchuuriki and the Tailed Beast was amiable, at least.

Not that Akira understood such a relationship. To her, Tailed Beasts were just constructs of chakra which will couldn't determine right from wrong, knowing only destruction and instincts.

The head of the pale purple Tailed Beast suddenly slammed unbelievably hard onto what was left of the plateau that it shook the plateau around so much that the edges of it crumbled down to the water below. In fact, the kick was so hard that the only remaining horn on the Tailed Beast's head broke off and fell down the ravine.

Akira had been the one to kick him, after all.

But even with the body of the Tailed Beast receding back into Killer B, Akira didn't let up the beating. She knew how tough and tenacious Jinchuuriki could be, after all.

She kicked him up from the ground and kicked him again, making him collide with the stairs so hard that the entire mountain they were embedded into cracked.

And of course, she had reinforced her legs with chakra to make the fainting of Killer B even snappier.

Without turning around, Akira addressed Taka. "You are all too weak. Grab him and let's go."

Suigetsu, panting and groaning from exhaustion as he was, growled lightly from the direct taunt.

Fortunately for him, Akira chose to not listen to him and continued down the steps that led out of the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.

'_Their teamwork was impressive, I'll give them that much. But individually they're weaker than a bowl of rice in a hot pot of curry... I miss chocolate._'

And just as she thought that she reached into a pocket inside her Akatsuki cloak and picked a bar of high percentage chocolate. She unwrapped it and began to eat it. '_Nothing beats a good bar of chocolate. Nothing._'

* * *

Akira stood in shock in front of Konan, who was sitting solemnly on the green couch in Akira's room. Why did she feel so heavy? What was with the hole slowly expanding in her chest? Why was it so hard to breathe?

"C-Come again..." Akira stammered, not believing a single word Konan had just said.

Konan looked straight into Akira's dismayed eyes. She repeated the three words she had said not a minute ago. "Nagato is dead."

Akira's heartbeat rapidly increased. "B-But... how? How could – Nagato was – how could _Nagato_ of all people be _dead_?!"

Konan didn't avert her eyes, which to Akira spoke volumes of the truth in Konan's words. "He sacrificed himself to the cause of the future."

Akira stumbled down, luckily landing on her bed. "Future? What future? A future without Nagato..."

Akira's eyes watered quickly. Reflexively she covered her eyes with her hands. "If Nagato is dead, then..."

"He sacrificed himself for Naruto Uzumaki," Konan sedately told, bracing herself for Akira to blow up.

"Naruto... Uzumaki?" Akira slowly said. "Naruto Uzumaki? Isn't he..."

"He's the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox from Konoha, yes."

Silence reigned in Akira's room. There was no sound in it except for Akira's increasingly rapid breathing and Konan's calm one.

"Why did he... why did he die for a Jinchuuriki? Why... why a _Konoha _shinobi?"

Konan wasn't surprised by the venom in Akira's voice. "Because Naruto Uzumaki is the light of the future. His flower is the flower of hope. Anyone he meets will have a seed of that flower. Hope... for the future."

Akira chuckled throatily. "Hope for the future in a Konoha ninja?"

Konan sighed. "I do not see him as soldier of Konoha, Akira. I see him as the carrier of hope. He is the child that will finally bring about peace in this war-ridden world of hatred."

Akira suddenly stood up. Her hands were balled by her side and her reddened eyes filled with anger and remorse. "I trusted you, Konan. You betrayed me, just like the rest of them. I thought you were better than that."

Konan's shoulders slumped slightly, not entirely surprised at Akira's harsh words. But before she could say anything, Akira was out of the only window in her room, the noise of glass shattering resounding in her ears.

Konan was quiet for several minutes before she murmured two words that she wanted to say to Akira.

"I'm sorry."

With that Konan dispersed into hundreds of small paper butterflies, heading towards one of the largest lakes in the country, towards what she knew might very well be her death.

After all, it wasn't every day that you encountered Madara Uchiha in a battle to the death.

* * *

A tree crashed against another and split in two, having gone through several of them in the process.

A scream of rage and grief erupted from the forest that was currently being decimated. It contained a bitterness that had festered for years, rage that had been fanned from time to time, and sheer, mind-numbing despair so great that who heard it would be overcome by the feeling of drowning.

'_Why do they always betray me?! Why does no one like me anymore?! I want them all to die! What deity have I angered to make me this miserable?! Why?! Why?! Why?!_'

"Why?!" Akira screamed, channelling chakra into her leg and crashing it down onto the earth. A huge crater, six metres across, instantly formed around her leg, while a lightning effect of cracks spread out from the centre of where her leg landed and fanned out a distance of dozens of metres around her nearly instantly, followed by the ground caving in, great heaps of earth upheaving, others shattering, with dust and debris littering the air. Trees were completely uprooted from the earth, many of those near her falling apart. Dust piled into the sky, and the tremors from her kick continued for twenty seconds even after the ground ceased to come apart.

Akira idly felt the clashing chakra signatures of that new oddball Akatsuki member and Konan. They were fighting, and Konan was clearly giving it her all while the masked one seemed to be somewhat calm.

Akira was conflicted. She didn't know who to help, or if she even wanted to interfere to begin with.

'_But Konan had to have a reason to believe in that... that... Konoha shit stain, right? Why would she call him as the "carrier of hope" if she didn't? But he's a Konoha shinobi! All Konoha ninja are supposed to die! They're all cannon fodder to begin with! So why? Why is she so firm in her belief in the Jinchuuriki? He's from Konoha! And because of that, he's arrogant, a misfit that is only good when dead! So why? Why does Konan believe in him, __in Naruto Uzumaki?_'

Akira screamed to high heavens, collapsing onto the ground. She sobbed to her heart's content. "Konan... Nagato... why did you... please don't leave me..."

So consumed in her despair that she didn't feel the ground shake for ten long minutes, nor did she hear the contemporary explosions.

'_But if I don't go there and help her, she'll die! And then Konan won't be my friend anymore! Who will I then turn to when I need help? Who will be my friend then?_'

And then she felt Konan's chakra flutter significantly, a clear sign of dying.

* * *

Konan was astonished. Her plan, everything she had thought of, she thought she had considered everything. But Madara was still alive, the proof going through her stomach, the pipe being stained by her dark red blood.

"But I... I thought of everything," Konan gasped, blood seeping through her lips. "That technique-"

"Can only be used for five minutes?"

She heard chuckling come from him, but before he could say whatever he wanted to say, a foot lodged itself deep into his chest. If it hadn't been for his Sharingan, he would have not even seen it.

He was sent _at least_ a mile away, breaking even the sound barrier, his chest literally caving in from the hard hit. But he threw off the pain like it was a mosquito bite, for his body was not entirely his own. He grumbled angrily. '_I didn't expect Akira to arrive. She has forced my hand before, but she is getting out of hand. I have to kill her, but unfortunately, with the damage I have received, and the lack of an eye, I won't be a significant fighter. I have to retreat. You've won this time, Akira. You won't win again._'

And as time and space warped him away, his thoughts were on the remaining Akatsuki organization's members. '_This is getting troublesome. First Kakuzu, who was a pain to kill, and now Konan and Akira. They're bound to be together more from now on. And without the Rinnegan, my plan has to stop for some time._'

And he was gone.

Akira sensed his chakra disappearing, and so, she turned to the injured Konan. Konan was gasping for precious air, but her eyes were firmly locked with Akira's.

Akira grimaced from the pain her only remaining friend was experiencing. She looked away from the blue haired angel, but picked her up anyway. "I have to get you to a hospital. I'm not good at medical techniques."

She leapt forward with all the force her powerful legs could give her, the wind shooting past her as she made for the village.

"I just hope you're right about this boy, for if you're wrong, you're dooming the entire world..."

* * *

Akira was sitting beside the white sheeted bed Konan was laying on. Her hands were clasped tightly together as she was staring at nothing, absorbed in her thoughts.

She didn't know why she saved Konan, really. Her mind told her that she should have let Konan die by that masked man's hands, but her heart had told her otherwise.

Normally Akira would have let her mind win over her heart, but for some reason, she just didn't listen to her mind. It was new, actually. She was... it was uncomfortable. It was something she wasn't used to.

She shook her head. '_No, it's not that I didn't listen to my mind,_' she thought. '_It's that I don't want to lose my best friend. Best friends have falling outs. It was just a temporary falling out. Konan doesn't mean to leave me to myself. She doesn't disregard my hate for Konoha. It's just because the Jinchuuriki is a good person... apparently, anyway._'

Akira rubbed her head, dishevelling her hair. "Damn. This is getting annoying."

"What's getting annoying?"

Akira snapped her attention to Konan. She was awake, and smiling gently. Akira smiled back with much more vigour. "Konan, you're awake!"

Konan's smile widened slightly. "Of course, silly. Now what's getting annoying?" she asked again, with a more composed tone.

Akira's smile faltered a bit. "Well, it's your trust in the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. First time I saw him, he seemed like a talentless and hopeless ninja. What's so good about him?"

Konan laid her head back onto the fluffy white hospital pillow, her smile not wavering at all. "Because he's the one to bring the world into an era of peace," she said. Konan looked back at Akira. "He isn't actually that talented. He's not as good at fighting as he should have been, that's true. But his determination to get through and save those precious to him is more than enough. He has guts, that much is certain."

Akira sneered a little. "You know that guts aren't all that matters, Konan..."

Konan chuckled slightly. "Indeed, I know that. But his chakra capacity is enough to make sure that he can persevere and endure just about any fight. He's quite adamant."

Akira scoffed. "Oh please. I'll have to see that for myself before I'll believe you there."

Konan nodded and smiled gently. "Good. Because I plan on having the both of us train him. You said he was hopeless and talentless? I don't think so."

* * *

Akira didn't initially like the prospect of training Naruto Uzumaki, but she yielded less than a second later when she forced herself to say that he was not to be seen as a Konoha shinobi.

And that was why she and Konan were in Konoha, scouting for Naruto. Of course they didn't wear anything that could connect them to Akatsuki. No reasonable Konoha shinobi or civilian would appreciate the black cloak and red clouds. Instead, they wore very gender neutral clothes, grey, brown and beige. Add to that a hat that covered faces and hair, and they were covered.

Although the scouting took a very short time, thanks to Akira's sensing and Naruto's unique chakra signature and capacity.

Predictably, he was in a ramen stall.

Akira and Konan agreed to meet up in a clearing in the woods outside Konoha's walls, Konan having Naruto in tow.

It took maybe ten minutes for Konan and Naruto to arrive in the clearing, but in those ten minutes, Akira had walked up a tree to sit on a branch. She made no effort at all to hide her presence, seeing it as useless.

"So what are we here for, Konan?" Naruto asked. His hands were clasped behind his head.

'_He's relaxed. He's too trusting. I know that Konan wouldn't kill him, but still, he's too comfortable around people he doesn't know inside out, people that he _shouldn't_ trust._'

Konan ignored Naruto's question and looked straight at Akira's position, calling upon her. "Akira, please come down from there."

Akira sighed and leapt down. "Is this him?" she asked. It was a useless question – Akira already knew that it was him – but Naruto hopefully didn't remember her and couldn't recognize her chakra signature either.

Naruto leapt up from the ground from shock, while Konan simply nodded. "Yes, this is the Nine Tailed Jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto grasped his chest and squinted, gasping heavily. "Gah, Konan, you could have warned me, you know!"

Konan turned her eyes – only her eyes – to Naruto, and smirked. "That would have ruined the surprise I have in store for you."

Akira raised an eyebrow, which no one could actually see because of the hat she wore. "The only thing this child has going for him-"

Akira was oh so rudely interrupted by Naruto's loud exclamation, making Konan's smirk widen a bit. "Hey! I'm not a kid!"

Akira's eye twitched. She slowly began to rub her forehead and sighed. "This _child_ has going for him is chakra capacity and the Nine Tails inside him. That's it. Still not convinced, Konan."

Konan's smirk faltered slightly. "He managed to defeat Nagato," she added in Naruto's defence.

Akira was quiet for only a moment, and in that moment she thought that grieving over Nagato's death would be useless for some time. "Because of the Nine Tails."

Naruto watched the two women calmly argue back and forth between each other before he groaned. "Oh come on! I can talk for myself, you know!"

Both women stopped and snapped their attention to Naruto. Akira grabbed onto her hat and pulled down slowly, green eyes locking with blue. One of her eyebrows were raised once again. "Oh really? Okay, let's see what you have going for you. I know you have the Nine Tails inside you, but what techniques do you know?"

Naruto's face hardened comically, numbering the techniques he could do with his fingers, one after the other. "I can do shadow clones, I can summon toads, I can go into Sage Mode, I can do the Rasengan, and I can combine it with wind nature!"

Akira's eyes widened. '_He has completed the Rasengan? That's... quite good. Okay, his standing in my perspective has raised by a notch._'

Akira waited for a few seconds before waving her hand around. "Okay, what else?" she asked.

Naruto blinked, confused. "That's it."

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Silence so thick, one could have sliced a blade through it, and struggled to complete the cut. Crows began cawing in the distance, which made the silence even more unbelievable, because they should have migrated by now.

Akira sighed. '_And the notch is gone._'

"That's all you can do? What the ever living hell?" Akira spun around to face Konan. "This is ridiculous, Konan! He needs help, and he needs it badly!"

A smile formed on Konan's face, while Naruto shouted indignantly, claiming that he was still awesome as always.

* * *

**Author's note:**

*sigh* Okay, I am terribly sorry. I haven't updated in, what, a month? I just checked my last updated chapter, and my god, it is true! No, it's even worse! It's _more_ than a month ago since last chapter! Dafuq?!

I blame Dark Souls. Ho~ly hell, that's one hell of a good game. Hard as hell, but goddamn!

I'll say it here and now, I love the Straight Silver Knight Sword, because to my knowledge, it is the best sword (discounting greatswords – I'm a quick kind of guy) because it can be buffed by miracles, sorcery or resins. So fuck greatswords, SSKS is awesome!

…

I have a confession to make. I use trainers. BUT! I only use trainers for magic, items, materials, humanity, and souls. That's it. I don't dare to use health cheats or stamina cheats unless I _really_ don't want to die and die and die and die and die again and again against _that_ _one boss_, or _that one enemy_.

Besides, while I like challenges, I like the lore and the story of Dark Souls more than the gameplay. And I _**NEVER**_ invade, so as to not ruin anyone else's game. Instead, I let others invade me, but they already know the risks anyway.

_**PRAISE THE SUN!**_


	4. Helping Out Via Torture

**Author's note:** I'll just mention this now. I love Dark Souls. Expect a story of the masterpiece in at least the next couple of months.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were hell.

Well, hell for Naruto, anyway.

Akira was truly a determined and good teacher, but she was also very strict. She did not tolerate slacking. It made it nearly unbearable for Naruto. Normally, Naruto could outlast his teachers, what with his monstrous amounts chakra and stamina, but Akira had nearly as much as he did, and with far better control than him that it wasn't even funny. Not to him, anyway.

No, every morning Naruto's muscles practically screamed at him to stop and take a rest. Not even his normal healing rate could withstand the physical torment they underwent daily under Akira's training.

Every morning Naruto lethargically did his morning routines. He got up from bed, took a shower, ate a healthy breakfast – Akira and Konan forced him to eat something other than ramen. Oh, how he had begged! – brushed his teeth, grabbed some clothes and went to the clearing outside Konoha. By then the sun wouldn't even have risen up.

Akira and Konan often ambushed Naruto, under the guise of 'keeping his senses sharp'. Naruto did in fact believe them. He was beginning to be more aware of just about everything about his surroundings. He even noticed the squirrels running away from him. He had never even noticed that there were squirrels in the Land of Fire, much less around Konoha. Then the training would start. For the first three hours of the training period, Naruto would be under attack by Akira's many clones and Konan's many paper sheets. He had to learn their ticks, when and where they usually attacked, and when they noticed that he got used to dodging, they upped the ante and made themselves go faster, forcing Naruto to block instead.

After the three hours Naruto got fifteen minutes to rest and recover. It was only fifteen minutes on average, though. Akira and Konan sometimes ambushed him earlier than the fifteen minutes, sometimes later. It made Naruto paranoid when he was training together with Akira and Konan.

Then there'd be another break, this one half an hour, exactly. It gave Naruto enough time to run to his apartment, shower, change into new, clean clothes and eat to replenish some of his lost energy.

When Naruto was back at the clearing, he was trained in chakra control. He had to create hundreds of shadow clones, each having loads of leafs balanced on them with limited chakra. Some had more than others, and those who had less had to either walk on water, dodge thrown projectiles, walk on trees upside down or sideways, even run around the clearing.

As Akira very quickly discovered, Naruto had horrendous chakra control. No, 'horrendous' didn't do it justice. Akira quite literally slapped her forehead from sheer annoyance at Naruto's teachers' incompetence. Because of Naruto's...lack of control, that aspect of the training took well over six hours. Initially, Naruto became bored and began to complain.

Akira's kicks shut him up real quick.

Akira and Konan taught Naruto techniques of all five natures, dedicating a good three dozen shadow clones to each element not wind. For Naruto's primary affinity, Naruto along with forty-nine shadow clones trained with Akira's help. Konan usually aided with experienced advice to both the clones that trained in the other four elements along with tips to the real Naruto and his group whenever Akira stumbled on some words. That was thankfully rare. Akira was, after all, proud. And if she stumbled on words, she would be severely embarrassed.

The elemental training would take maybe two or so hours.

By the time they finished training, Naruto was exhausted. His chakra reserves were lower than he was used to, his muscles ached, his hands calloused, and the sun was setting in the distant horizon.

Naruto's friends began to question Naruto's tiredness when he hadn't talked to them for at least two days. It took a couple of faked reasons – tired from the fight with Nagato, tired from running, or just didn't sleep well, stuff like that – but they laid off. Sure, none of them believed him, they were more intelligent than that, but they still backed him up and gave him their best regards, hoping that he would be able to sleep better.

Naruto fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

And whenever he woke up again, he felt... refreshed, energetic, but sluggish and impassive at the same time. It was as if his body was the one sleepy, but his mind was fully energized. It was a feeling Naruto had never felt before.

It was only after a month of training before Naruto's body began to catch up with the training Akira and Konan made him go through.

Naruto thought nothing of it at first. But whenever he looked at the mirror in his bathroom... he felt good. No, not good, he felt great! Not even great, _wonderful_! He almost lost track of time thinking about how good he felt he was. He felt as if he could take on the many burdens of the entire world _and win_!

But then he went back to training with Akira and Konan.

Oh boy, did they make him feel like an amateur.

They always had ways to beat his confidence down, only to make him rebuild it back to how it was those mornings.

And then Kumogakure shinobi arrived, blaming Sasuke for kidnapping Killer B, the Eight Tailed Beast's Jinchuuriki, and brother of the Raikage, as a member of Akatsuki.

Naruto had taken the blame, sort of, by telling the Kumo team that they could just beat him up to let go of whatever hatred they had inside them, after refusing to give them any information about Sasuke. And one of them took advantage of the offer, beating Naruto into the ground with heavy punches, making Naruto receive lesions on his forehead and above his right eye. His face was definitely busted up.

It would have been even more busted if the red haired, dark skinned girl hadn't been kicked into the side of a tree.

"Okay, calm down, you maniacal bitch," Naruto heard the very familiar voice of Akira say calmly.

Naruto looked up at Akira with his single available eye. "Hey, you don't... you don't need to do that for me. I-"

Akira glanced at Naruto before interrupting him. "Shut up. No one beats up on my punching bag."

If Akira had looked, she would have seen a sweat-drop. '_Gee, I feel so loved._'

Akira had restrained her kick severely, meaning that the woman that had been kicked should not have serious injuries, only a couple of bruises that would last a couple of weeks.

Omoi, Karui's lazy teammate, observed the short conversation with a stunned face. He hadn't even seen Akira kick Karui. '_What tremendous speed! Next thing you know, she'll be able to kick me into orbit, then I'll become a satellite and fall down back onto the earth after centuries, and by then people will have developed technology that we don't know about, and they won't have chakra as we have them. Because of that, they'll thaw me out and-_'

And so the back of Omoi's head was slapped by a blonde haired, fair skinned woman with... very large assets.

"Omoi, where's Karui?" Samui asked coldly.

Omoi grabbed the back of his head and looked at Samui. He then pointed at the tree their teammate was lodged firmly into. "She's in there. And judging by the fact that there isn't a sound coming from her, and that she hasn't moved yet, I bet that she's unconscious. But if she's still, it might be that she's dead instead of unconscious. And if that's true-"

Omoi was slapped again. "Stop it, Omoi."

Akira's hat covered her gender, so she was safe. At least for the moment. "Who are you, where do you come from, and why are you here?" she questioned, while deepening her voice successfully.

Samui looked at Akira. "I'm Samui, this is Omoi, and the girl in the tree is Karui. We're from Kumo. We're here because Sasuke Uchiha, a shinobi from Konoha, was seen kidnapping an important member of Kumo's military."

Akira mulled over the information for less than a second before answering. "Very well. If that is why you are here, then I suggest you keep your fellow shinobi from attacking our own. Given Konoha's current state, few would have taken the actions of them as well as Naruto."

Samui sighed. "Idiots." She muttered under her breath. "I apologize for them. Rest assured, they will be punished. We didn't come here to cause problems-or at least, we _shouldn't _have been."

She cast a brief stern glance at her teammates, though only one was still conscious and thus able to cringe at it. Samui's gaze returned to Akira. "Rest assured, they will learn not to do it again."

Akira nodded, "Good."

Samui turned to Omoi "Get Karui, we have what we need, and we're leaving. And when she's awake, we're going to have a chat about what's going to happen when we get back to the village."

Omoi just nodded, looking somewhat fearful, and collected the knocked out Karui. The Kumo ninja left shortly after.

Akira's breath shuddered. She bent her legs and began to rub her face. "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit," she said continuously.

Naruto coughed, a small bit of blood flowing out of his mouth. Nothing to be concerned over; Naruto's training with Akira was far worse.

Naruto stood up, walked over to Akira and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he said, his voice slurred slightly. "What's wrong?"

Akira stopped rubbing her face and repeating the words. "Sorry. Some habits still die hard, apparently."

Akira stood up, her hat still firmly placed on her head. She was actually tearing up from defending the one village she hated. She didn't want Naruto to see her like that. "I... I just don't really like Konoha, so defending it makes me angry at myself."

Naruto blinked. "You don't like Konoha? Why?"

Akira knew that Naruto meant well. She also knew that Naruto knew nothing about her hatred for Konoha. "It's personal. It's best that you don't mix yourself into it. At least not yet."

Naruto nodded. He didn't understand where Akira came from, but he'd delay on asking again until the time was right, or until Akira herself told him.

"You need to get that face fixed up. As much as I enjoy seeing you beat up like that, it won't do if someone were to attack you and you can't see the enemy incoming."

* * *

Naruto winced as Sakura dabbed the wounds with a bit of sterilization cotton. "I've been meaning to ask you something, Naruto."

Naruto just hummed in response. Usually he'd be ecstatic in having Sakura treat him, but now, he was just... emotionless? No. Uncaring? No, not that. Aloof? Maybe.

But whatever it was, he didn't really care who it was that patched him up. "Shoot, Sakura."

Sakura sighed. '_Time of truth, I guess..._'

"I want to know what has been happening with you the last month. You haven't been in your apartment, you haven't been anywhere in the village. I've checked, I've asked around, I've even looked at the Hokage Monument. You haven't been anywhere. First of all, where have you been? Second of all, what's happened to you? You look much better, much healthier, than before. So whatever it is, it has to be good. I'm just worried, is all."

Naruto winced again, again from the sterilization being dabbed softly on a wound. "I'm training. That's it. I'm training."

Sakura's eye twitched, and poked Naruto with the cotton with alcohol a bit too hard, making Naruto grunt in pain. "Yeah, I figure, but why haven't you told anyone? Why have you been lying to us, your friends? It's only training, after all! We could even help you with it!"

Sakura wasn't angry, not really. She was just miffed, annoyed. Her teammate hadn't told her of something that had something to do with his strength, which in turn meant it affected Konoha's military, thus the team, the team of which she was part of.

So yes, she was annoyed.

Naruto pouted. "Sakura, I have promised someone that I wouldn't tell anyone about my training, only that I am training. I lied because I don't want my friends to worry about me. I'll tell you everything when I'm finished with the training, I promise. So please, just have some faith in me."

Sakura sighed. "Fine. I'll wait until you can tell me about it."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Sakura."

Sakura rolled her eyes and practically stabbed him with the alcohol coated cotton ball.

"Ow! Hey, Sakura! That hurt!"

* * *

Akira crossed her arms. "Naruto, I have something to tell you," Akira stated. Her voice betrayed no emotion.

Naruto was standing calmly on unstable water with leafs balanced on him asymmetrically. "Yeah?" he answered. He was completely stable, his chakra flowing equally to each leaf, holding them barely a centimetre off his body, and the chakra channelled to his feet holding itself stable through it all.

Konan was on the other side of the clearing, overseeing the rest of the clones.

"I... your father, he's Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, isn't he?"

Naruto blinked, but his chakra was unwavering. "Yeah, what about it?"

Akira sighed. "I'm... Minato Namikaze was my sensei when I was a shinobi of Konoha. Kakashi Hatake was my teammate."

Akira could feel Naruto's chakra fluctuate before calming down, but the leaves fluttered slightly, his sandals becoming a bit wet from coming into contact with the water. "W-What?" Naruto stammered. "You're-! You're Kakashi's teammate?! My father's student?!"

Akira turned her head away. "I just thought you should know, Naruto. You deserve that much."

Akira could feel practically feel Naruto's elation. "Ha, wait until Kakashi hears this! He'll-"

Akira swung with her arm, gesturing for Naruto to stop. "No!" she exclaimed loudly. Naruto blinked, a couple of leafs falling down onto the water. Akira gulped and sighed, her throat tightening. "No. Naruto, don't tell Kakashi about me. He's... he and I don't have the best of relationships right now. I don't want to meet him, not now, not yet."

Naruto blinked again. "Oh... well, then why tell me that you were my dad's student?"

Akira's cheeks turned a tough pink, although Naruto didn't see her do so. "I just thought you'd want to hear stories about his many escapades."

Naruto's face lightened up with much happiness. "Yeah!"

Akira smiled and began talking to Naruto about his father.

* * *

They were both in the clearing well after the sun set, talking about Minato's adventures. Konan had said that she would leave for the hotel they stayed at.

"And then-and then Minato-sensei just sighed, said 'I'm tired of this" and walked out!'," Akira cheerfully told Naruto.

Naruto burst out with laughter at the story told by Akira. "No way! So he totally left the council while they were still arguing?!"

Akira continued the story. "Not only that, but they were still arguing even _after_ he left, for over an hour! It was only after _I_ slammed the door shut did they notice that Minato-sensei wasn't there!"

Naruto clutched his sides as his laughter grew in pitch. "I can't believe them!"

Akira wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. "Ah, yeah, they were assholes back then. I can't even imagine how they're like now."

Naruto smiled widely. "I don't know, but they're probably still the same!"

Akira chuckled. "Ha, I bet! Minato-sensei did tell me that the Third had complained about the very same thing, so chances are they're still the same after all these years."

Naruto grinned, but then got a questioning expression. "Hey, I'm wondering, did my dad ever get a girl?"

Akira perked up. "Oh did he! He was a total ladies' man. He was all over loads of women! Granted, the women were always at his age or a bit over it, but still, he was all over them. There were so many times where I had to drag him out of a bar with a woman hanging on his arm for dear life. He was so often late for our team meetings that whenever he _was_ on time, he usually looked so unruly. I always just said 'Who was it this time?', and he'd go all 'No one! This is my natural hair!'. I never believed him."

Naruto grinned and scratched his cheek. "But did he ever marry or something?"

Akira's smile got fonder and fonder. "Yes, he did. Kushina Uzumaki."

Naruto stared at Akira. "Kushina _Uzumaki_?"

Akira nodded. "Yeah, _Uzumaki_. As far as I know, she was from the Uzumaki clan. The clan has been wiped out, so don't bother," she stated firmly when she saw Naruto's hopeful expression. "They were a clan of masterful sealers, with long lifespans and ridiculous chakra. They had close ties to the Senju clan. But that's really all that's noteworthy about them, I'm afraid. Well, that, and they're basically the only ones with red hair."

Naruto nodded as Akira continued. "Anyway, Kushina Uzumaki. She was the clan's last survivor, at least that's what I think she was, and was also a red head, so yeah, she was definitely an Uzumaki. She was beautiful, attractive, and had a fiery temper, but at the same time, could be so very kind. She was one of those women, that's for sure. In her Academy days, she was called 'Tomato' because of her round face and red hair. She beat up everyone that called her that, which earned her another nickname; 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero."

"She was definitely gorgeous. You have her face, and your father's hair and eyes," she continued. "Although, to be honest, she could be violent. But only when she was pregnant."

"Huh?"

Akira smiled. "Yep! With you. Her pregnancy was great news to just about anyone who cared. Minato-sensei was especially happy. I was happy, Obito was happy, Kakashi was happy, Tsunade was happy, everyone was happy."

Then Akira's face fell. "And then the tenth of October. You know what happened then, don't you?"

The mood instantly turned gloomy. "I know. The Nine Tails attacked."

Akira nodded at Naruto's words. "That's true. It did. I didn't participate in fighting it off, though. The younger generation was held back by some of the older Jounin while the rest were fighting the beast. Minato-sensei died sealing it into you. Kushina died from child birth complications."

Naruto gave a sad glance to Akira. "So..."

Akira puffed her bound chest out. "So, I took care of you for the next two years. There weren't that many people who could – or would – take responsibility for you, so I did. Let me tell you, you were quite the handful. Always moaning, groaning and crying. But you were too cute, so you made up for it."

Naruto blushed from the praise Akira was giving him. "Oh shut it..." he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Akira chuckled again, but her humour lasted for only a couple of moments before saddening. "And then, after the two years, I left the village."

Naruto stared solemnly at Akira while she continued. "I left the village, scratching my forehead protector with a kunai, marking myself a missing-nin."

She shook her head, dispelling her sadness. "But that's all doom and gloom. Another thing that you could say about your father and mother is that they loved you from the very bottom of their deep hearts. If I didn't know any better, I would say that their love alone would keep their spirits here, always supporting you," she said, filled with wonder. She chuckled, "Somehow, I can just imagine them both sitting beside you, smiling at you, hugging you, loving you. It's a beautiful sight."

Naruto smiled, too. Then he got an idea. "Hey, do you have a picture of my parents?"

Akira blinked. "I... haven't thought of that. Okay, I'll bring a picture tomorrow."

They both looked up at the stars in the sky.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? The stars."

"It is."

Akira glanced at Naruto before looking back at the sky. "You know, Naruto, I think that there might just be hope for you yet."

Naruto grinned. "Of course there is! I'm going to be the Hokage. No way will I fail now!"

Akira smiled. "Good."

* * *

Akira growled at Naruto. "You're late! Again!"

It had been three days since Akira's and Naruto's talk about his father and mother, and every morning since then, Naruto had been late.

Naruto even had – very slight – dark bags under his eyes. "I know. I just... I'm thinking."

Konan raised an eyebrow. "About what, exactly?"

Naruto glanced at Konan and Akira before rubbing his eyes. "About Hi-... about Sasuke."

Akira's mood changed from frustrated to tense as Naruto continued to explain, but the 'Hi-' did not escape her notice. She let it go, though.. "Sasuke is marked as a missing-nin, and he has a 'kill on sight' order. If I don't do something soon, Sasuke will be killed."

Akira rubbed her forehead. "Seriously, Naruto, what's with your constant moaning about Sasuke Uchiha? For one, when I last saw him, he already-"

Naruto interrupted Akira, "You've seen him?! Where is he?"

Akira's eye twitched at the interruption. "Naruto," she growled dangerously, "What have I said about interrupting me?"

Naruto flinched and gulped. "That... I would be on the receiving end of your thunder?"

Akira nodded, and talked with a sarcastic tone. "Good, good, you remember, how well done! Now shut up and let me talk!"

Naruto nodded before Akira continued. "He already had a team, an incompetent team, but a team nonetheless. Besides, what's with your fascination with the Uchiha? He had an air of arrogance at least a month back. He's bound to be even worse by now."

Naruto looked Akira in the eye with such determination that, if Akira didn't know any better, she'd think he was a completely different person. "Because he's my friend, my _best_ friend. He won't die, not as long as I live. I made a promise to Sakura, too. I promised her that I would bring him back, and I never go back on my word."

Naruto's speech did give the two – _former_ – Akatsuki members pause. They glanced at each other, a silent conversation going between them before Akira sighed. "Naruto, the world doesn't work that way, no matter how much you want it to. People are born, people die. Those are the only things in this world that are true. Your friend, Sasuke, is a missing-nin with a kill on sight order. He _will_ be killed, no matter what you want to happen."

Naruto's eyes merely hardened more as he heard Akira's words. "I don't care if the world works like that. I'll change it if I have to, but Sasuke _won't die._"

Akira shook her head as Konan began. "I think that this talk is irrelevant to the purpose we are here for. We are here for training, not to talk philosophy and about Sasuke Uchiha or changing the world. Now, I believe it is time to check if your senses are still as sharp as before."

Naruto's eyes widened as his body was replaced by a log that was very quickly cut to pieces by paper.

* * *

It was once the sun was beginning to set that Naruto approached Konan and Akira. "Hey, Konan, Akira," he started.

They both turned to him. Konan was the one who answered. "Yes?"

Naruto rubbed the back of this neck. "I'm wondering. Since Sasuke is sentenced to be killed on sight, maybe I can get the Raikage to lift the charges, which will get the current Hokage to lift the order."

Akira frowned, bewildered by Naruto's intense determination on getting Sasuke back. "The world still doesn't turn around like that, Naruto. The Raikage's charges have already been set, and the Hokage Candidate has responded the only way he could to avoid major conflict. If Danzo didn't make Sasuke a missing-nin, he would be solely responsible for more unnecessary death, all because of _one_ person. I know what you're going to say, Naruto, but no, convincing the Raikage to lift his charges and talking to the current Hokage won't work. It _won't_. They're both much more politically important than you, and therefore are so much more stubborn when it comes to decisions they've already made."

Naruto shut his eyes tight, clenching his teeth together. "I don't care," he said, his blood beginning to boil. "I don't care if they're stubborn. I don't care if they're '_politically important_', I don't give a shit! I care about my friend, and the promise I made to Sakura! I don't go back on my word, and there's no way I will ever stray from my ninja way!"

Both Konan and Akira blinked at Naruto's determination and glanced at each other. A silent conversation ensued between the two women, before Konan shook her head and sighed, turning around and walking to the trees.

Akira, meanwhile, began to rub her forehead. "So," she said, the tone of her voice low. "I would have expected to be able to beat that attitude out of you. Unfortunately, if anything, our training has only strengthened it."

She groaned, frustrated. "Fine. If that's how you're going to play it, Naruto. We'll help you try to talk them down, no matter how unlikely it seems."

She stopped rubbing her forehead, grabbed her hat that was hanging by a string tied around her neck and donned it. "Let's go, Naruto. Konan is already preparing herself."

Naruto smiled, his eyes shining with internal fire. "Thanks, Akira."

* * *

Naruto still had his head in the snow on the ground, and both Akira and Konan could see his arms shaking. Konan stepped forward, knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, it's time to go. The Raikage has made his statement clear."

Ever so slowly, Naruto raised his head up, his hair wet from snow.

* * *

They were staying at an inn in a town in the Land of Iron.

That in and of itself wasn't anything to be concerned about.

What was a problem was the fact that seeing that there was only one room left in the inn, and there was no other available inn, hotel or motel, Naruto, Akira, and Konan had to share a room.

Which brought much awkwardness for Naruto and Akira. Konan was indifferent to the implications sharing a room had.

Akira groaned as she scratched the back of her head, being so damn tired. '_Damn. I slept __in a wrong position again..._' Akira thought, tilting her head to the side to stretch her neck's muscles.

She sighed and started stretching her entire body. '_I might have slept in a wrong position, but shit, did I sleep well. Wait, how does that work? Eh, never mind._'

She did feel relieved in the chest area. She glanced down. "Ah, so that's why," she whispered to herself. Her chest was unbounded and bare, the covers having slipped off. '_The bindings must have slipped off while I was sleeping._'

She heard a strangled noise to her side. She took a quick look over and saw Naruto. A staring Naruto.

'_Huh. Pink... wait_...' Naruto quickly realized what he was thinking before he snapped his entire body away from Akira's topless form and held his nose tight. '_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit!_' he thought, desperately wanting to _not_ be pummelled into a bloody whimpering, twitching lump of battered flesh and powdered bone.

Instead of getting immensely angry and beating Naruto for seeing how big her chest actually was, Akira yelped – '_I don't yelp! Why did I yelp?!_' – and grabbed the sheets, trying to cover her freed breasts. "A-a-a-a-h! N-N-N-Naruto! You're- You're awake! Em, good, good, yeah!"

'_Why the hell do I sound so goddamn nervous?! It's only Naruto! Oh god, this is so embarrassing!_'

Naruto flinched and grabbed his head, fully expecting a _quite_ hard kick. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to see anything!" he loudly declared, vainly shielding himself with his arms.

Before Akira could reply, Konan rose up from the futon she had occupied, casually rubbing her eye. "Stop it, you two. It's barely dawn, no need to scream each other's heads off."

Akira's blush threatened to envelop her entire body as she fumbled with her bindings, her hands shaking way too much to bind her chest properly. Konan saw the nervousness that Akira was going through and addressed Naruto. "Naruto, leave for now. I will call you in once we're both dressed. Then you will come in and dress while we wait."

Naruto nodded, stood up and left with a speed that was possible only because of his training with Akira and Konan.

Konan sighed again and stared humorously at Akira. Well, humorously when it came to Konan, anyway. "You have a strong grip when you're sleeping, you know."

Akira bent her head to see Konan, who started helping Akira to bind her chest. "What do you mean, Konan?"

Konan shrugged. "I mean that you hug tightly while sleeping."

She poked her own ribs while Akira's previously dissipated blush came back full force. "I can still feel your arms right about here."

Akira groaned. "Konan," she whined, which was quite unlike her.

Konan chuckled and motioned for Akira to turn around. "You're too nervous to put your bindings on by yourself. Let me help you."

Akira followed Konan's suggestion without question. Akira glanced at her hands. They were shaking like leafs in a tornado. '_Okay, vast exaggeration, but point still stands..._'

Akira heard Konan chuckle. "Your reaction," Konan began, "To Naruto seeing you was quite amusing, I must say."

Akira whined again. "Please don't rub it in..."

Konan chuckled and began binding Akira's chest, with Akira trying to level her breathing.

It took a couple of minutes, but finally Akira's large breasts were fully bounded. Konan tapped Akira's back. "Finished."

Akira nodded and proceeded to fetch her clothes, Konan clothing herself as well.

Once they were finished putting clothes on, and once Naruto was also done, something quite strange happened.

A swirl in the air appeared by their window sill.

And out of the swirl in space-time came a man with a black cloak, decorated with red clouds, wearing an orange mask spiralling, much like the swirl.

"Hello, everyone."

Akira glared heavily together with Konan. Naruto recognized the masked man, and was already preparing for a Rasengan – something he could now do with only one hand, and generate in less than two seconds thanks to the chakra control training.

"Madara," Konan nearly growled. However, she had too much control over her own emotions to let anger control her.

Akira, not so much. "You fucking bastard," she murmured, her voice marred with hate.

The masked man, identified as Madara, chuckled. "For a second there, I thought you hated me, Akira."

"I do hate you, Madara. You hurt Konan, and there's no way I'll forgive you for that!"

Madara shook his head. "Ah, but that doesn't matter at all-"

A high pitched whine, followed by a boom, echoed through several blocks of the town.

"You are certainly eager to use the Rasengan, Uzumaki," the masked man said haughtily. He had obviously escaped the Rasengan through his intangibility technique, but he hadn't escaped Konan's paper as it wrapped around him tightly as he stood on the destroyed window sill.

The paper squeezed tighter and tighter, but the masked man stood there, not fazed in the slightest from the pressure.

He chuckled. "I am here to tell you, Uzumaki, that Sasuke is headed to the Five Kage Summit to kill the current Hokage candidate. Danzo is one of those responsible for the ever so _tragic_ death of his family, after all."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Danzo is responsible for Sasuke's family's death?"

"Well," the masked man continued. "Partly. I'll tell you the truth behind the Uchiha clan massacre, Naruto Uzumaki."

Akira was wary of the masked man who claimed to be Madara Uchiha. Said man was talking like he knew something that no one else did. '_Pompous ass_,' Akira thought. '_Smugness fits him, though. He _is_ an Uchiha. I've met Fugaku, Itachi's father, and there's no _way_ I'd _ever_ like that annoying fucking piece of shit. Still, though. I didn't expect Itachi to trust this guy's word. Besides, no matter what, there's no way this guy is Madara. Madara is said to have had ridiculously powerful chakra. This guy has a slightly higher than average Jounin's chakra level. But if this guy isn't Madara, then who is he?_"

"Senju and Uchiha, love and hatred, Naruto and Sasuke. You are both fated to fight each other, and end the generations long conflict."

Akira narrowed her eyes at the masked man's words. "So really," she spoke, "This Sage's elder son was a petty, self-entitled, jealous little twit?"

If it were under different circumstances Naruto would have burst with laughter. The masked man shook his head and chuckled. "I wouldn't use those exact words, Akira."

Akira didn't even try to look smug when he hadn't deny it. "I'll see you all later," the masked man said, his voice distorting as the swirl reappeared, sucking him into wherever.

Akira glowered at the man's disappearance, until her gaze snapped to Naruto. "Well, Naruto. Now you know where Sasuke is headed, and we did promise to help you. What're you going to do now?"

Naruto met Akira's stare with intense determination. "You both know what I'm going to do."

* * *

As they were travelling to the Five Kage Summit, Akira and Konan had a discussion.

"Would Nagato want that, Konan? You've known him for longer than I have."

They were behind Naruto, and with the air whizzing by the trio's ears, it was unlikely Naruto was listening in.

"I'm sure he would. He wants peace to permeate the Shinobi nations, and if that's what it takes, he'd do it in a heartbeat. They aren't worth that much to him. He perceives them as tools, nothing more."

Akira grunted. "Fine. I don't like it, but if that's what Nagato would have wanted..."

She saw Konan nod. "It is."

Akira sighed, and spoke loud enough for Naruto to hear, too. "We're close to the Summit now. I can sense at least five Kage level chakra signatures. I recognize one of them being that of Danzo Shimura. The other four I remember vaguely."

Naruto didn't have time to respond before Akira continued, even louder. "There are five chakra signatures chasing us."

The party of three stopped dead on separate tree branches, knocking snow off the leafs and twigs attached to said branch.

Naruto turned to Akira and asked. "Do you know who they are?"

She shook her head. "But I do know that one of them is a very big dog, another has a barely functioning chakra system but is moving at the same speed as the rest, and the other three have standard Chuunin level chakra."

Naruto hummed. "That sounds like Lee and Akamaru, which means that Kiba is definitely one of them. We can stop, they're good!"

Akira and Konan glanced at each other and slowly but surely receded into the trees. "We'll be out of sight."

Naruto nodded firmly.

Sure enough, it was Akamaru, Kiba, and Lee. Naruto didn't entirely expect Sakura and Sai, but he'd be lying if he said he was surprised.

Sakura's eyes widened at seeing Naruto, but then she flared inside, her resolve sky-rocketing. "Naruto, why aren't you in Konoha? What's been happening to you?"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What's been happening to me? I've been training, Sakura. I guess it's not that important that I don't tell you anymore. I've been training with two of the best shinobi this world has to offer. That's been happening for the better part of a month. I've been trained in using the Rasengan, in techniques of all natures, and just basic chakra control."

Unseen by the Konoha shinobi, Akira was suppressing a blush. But even with that blush, Akira frowned. '_This could be a problem..._'

Lee slid his foot forward. "Who are these two you speak of?"

Naruto glanced at Lee. "Akira and Konan, two former Akatsuki members."

* * *

**Author's note:** I have a beta-reader, a very talented one.

He took longer than expected. :|

I forgive him. :D


	5. Out And About

**AN:** There has been made a very small, but very significant change in chapter 4. Can y'all spot it?

* * *

Lee, Kiba, Akamaru, Sai, and most of all, Sakura, didn't expect to hear that Naruto had been trained by two Akatsuki members. Sakura liked it the least because she knew that the one who had injured Kakashi was Akira.

Kiba was surprised. He would have expected that there was some kind of animosity between Naruto and the two Akatsuki members that had trained him, but judging by Naruto's fiery eyes, there wasn't any. Besides, Naruto smelled determined. No way was Kiba going to go against Naruto. And Akamaru followed his partner.

Lee was split. He didn't know whether to cry tears of joy – '_No, youth!_' – or cry out in anger. Naruto was clearly not going to back down, that much he could see. But he had been training with Akatsuki members. That was where Lee was not sure. Was it right that he had trained with them? Was it wrong? Lee decided that no, it wasn't wrong. People's hearts change, and if Naruto was anything to go by, chances were that these two Akatsuki members had changed. Lee approved, albeit with slight hesitation.

Sai was unsure and paranoid. If Naruto had trained together with two Akatsuki members, it could be an elaborate plot to kidnap him, or maybe a sadistic way of gaining trust and ripping the Tailed Beast out of him. Maybe they took some sadistic joy in it. He wouldn't put it past them. They were criminals, after all. But a small part of Sai's conscience said otherwise. That these two Akatsuki members genuinely wanted to help Naruto overcome his future challenges. Sai took a "wait-and-see" approach.

Sakura, however, got angry. "What the hell are you thinking, Naruto?! You trained with Akatsuki?"

Naruto was just as angry at Sakura's intense response. "Sakura, you need to understand! They offered to train me! I trust them!"

"How can you trust them, Naruto? They're Akatsuki, they're criminals!"

Akira winced in her and Konan's hiding spot.

In a gesture of comfort Konan softly placed her hand on Akira's shoulder. Akira snapped her head toward her, her eyes saddened. Even with the angry conversation between Naruto and Sakura, Akira returned the kind sign with a squeeze of her own hand. She nodded. "Thank you," she whispered.

Konan smiled in return.

"They're not criminals! They've done bad things, but so have we! I trust them, and if you don't trust them then you might as well just move aside!"

Those words struck a chord in Sakura. She would be left again, tossed aside like a useless soldier, void of talent or skill. Her fists clenched, her knuckles whitened inside her black gloves. "No..." she whispered. "I won't be useless again. You want me to trust them? Fine. I will. But the moment they betray you I'll tell you 'told you so'," she said, a fire stronger than an inferno burning behind her eyes.

Naruto smirked. "No way will they betray me. They're my friends."

Sakura groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Fine, whatever. So what are you doing outside Konoha?"

Naruto closed his eyes, and debated internally with himself on whether he should tell them about Sasuke or keep the information to himself.

In the end, he decided. "I'm going to the Five Kage Summit. Sasuke will be there to kill Danzo. Danzo had a hand in killing the Uchiha clan, and Sasuke wants revenge. I'm going to stop him."

Akira glowered. '_How can he be this stupid?! They'll get in the way if they follow him. _If_? Of course they will._'

Konan thought along the same lines as Akira. '_I don't think that was a wise decision, telling them about us or what he has been doing. Especially not about Sasuke. They will follow us, and they will doubtlessly be a hindrance._'

The ones who chased for Naruto widened their eyes. "Sasuke will be there?" Sakura recoiled. "Then... why didn't you call for me, Naruto?" she asked, surprisingly enough without any anger or indignation.

Naruto sighed before he told Sakura the reason. "Because I wasn't able to. I was already in the Land of Iron. My clones don't have enough life-time to travel to Konoha."

Sakura gulped, and rubbed her neck. She turned to Sai, Lee, and Kiba. "_Woof!_" and Akamaru.

"I think you can all go back to Konoha now. Naruto and I will take care of this. This is a matter that's only related to our team, Team 7."

Sai raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean I'm not included?"

Naruto chuckled. "It's not like that, Sai. Sakura and I need to take care of this. This is about the old Team 7, not the current one."

Sai nodded in acknowledgement. "I see. Very well then. Stay safe, and be cautious."

Akira groaned very lowly. "You've got to be kidding me," she said, and made herself known, in spite of Konan's eye-rolling. The Konoha shinobi, minus Naruto, tensed, and prepared for a fight, despite Naruto's words and his trust in them. Akira directed her words to Naruto alone, and fought very hard inside herself to not snap and fuck the Konoha shinobi up and kick them six ways to Sunday. The Konoha symbol itself infuriated Akira.

So instead, she looked at Naruto. '_Thank god I convinced him to at least not wear it on his forehead._'

"She'll get in the way, Naruto. And if I know Konoha right, they'll disregard orders and follow us anyway."

Sakura frowned. "I won't get in the way. I refuse to."

Akira spared Sakura a short, frustrated glance. "Oh please, if you really want to help, get the fuck back to your pathetic village."

"Hey! Akira, lay off," Naruto snapped, scowling something fierce at her. "Sakura won't be getting in the way."

The pink haired shinobi shook her head. "Doesn't matter what she says. Anyway, guys, you can go back to Konoha. Thank you for following me."

Lee nodded, hearts in his eyes. "Anything for you, Sakura-chan!" which caused the addressed woman to roll her eyes.

Konan's sandals tapped on the branch beside Akira, and she laid a hand on her shaking shoulder. She leaned in and whispered, "Calm down, Akira. It won't do to become violent."

Taking a subtle deep breath, Akira calmed down.

With a leap, Sai, Lee, Kiba, and Akamaru left, but not before Kiba shrugged, and Sai leaving a suspicious and cautious glance at the two former Akatsuki members.

Sakura rolled her head. "So, shall we?"

-0-

It took roughly twenty minutes for the party of four to arrive at the Five Kage Summit, albeit not inside it.

"I can definitely sense the Uchiha brat's chakra. He's inside, fighting the... let's see... the Raikage. I recall his distinct chakra feel now. We should hurry and stop him before he is killed. There's no way he can survive against someone like him."

The old Team 7 nodded. "Let's go then," Naruto murmured, and pumped chakra to his legs.

"Race you to the Summit, Akira, Konan, Sakura!"

The three attractive women blinked. "I think... that he wants us to catch up," the blue haired one of the three muttered.

Akira smirked. "Ha, I'll finish this!" and she leapt off.

Konan and Sakura shook their heads, and opted to merely run at a fairly standard pace for shinobi.

* * *

The Raikage, A, was furious, utterly livid. His brother's kidnapper was right in front of him, and as long as that skeleton thing was there, and as long as the black haired criminal could summon both the skeleton and that annoying black flame of his, A had to be careful. Something that wasn't exactly his style.

His hands shook with utter rage, and the lightning around him flashed accordingly, wicked tongues of lightning licking the ground and rapidly creating gashes of violence in the rocks and concrete. "I will kill you, Sasuke Uchiha!" A shouted with extreme anger, said raging emotion fuelling his speed and energy to the point of ridiculousness.

With a boost of speed and wrath, the floor under him cracked under the incredible leg force. A was nothing but a streak of blue light in a sea of boring dark military green concrete. He impacted hard on Sasuke's purple Susanoo from behind, spreading cracks on the ribs, sending nearly solid pieces of chakra off the construct of energy.

A bellowed as he once again flashed, this time appearing on Sasuke's left side, his fist piercing the purple flames Sasuke created. Sasuke, with his enhanced Sharingan vision, saw the punch coming, but he could do nothing to dodge it.

His cheek bone almost broke under the pressure of having that punch landing. Sasuke lost his focus and his Susanoo disintegrated. His body created a denture on the hard wall, but nevertheless, Sasuke didn't close his eyes. He was grateful for that, because he saw A's fist approaching his face, and called upon his Susanoo once more.

The Uchiha was further pressed into the wall, and a pain flashed in his eyes as the black flames of Amaterasu flared. A smug sensation fluttered inside him, but it was quickly extinguished when A didn't stop his trajectory in the face of danger. "Don't you underestimate me, coward!" he shouted.

A's arm burned intensely, but he could not care less about his own body. His burning arm penetrated the ribs of the Susanoo once more, but with the regenerating chakra of the same construct, his arm stopped a scant centimetre short of Sasuke's nose. "Damn it!" he shouted, and lightning shot out of his elbow. "Elbow hammer!" he yelled, and Sasuke got a taste of A's fist once more.

A saw movement in his peripheral vision, and leapt back. Juugo's scream of joy echoed the room, terrifying the surrounding samurai. "I will fucking kill!" Juugo howled with absolute lust for murder and blood.

The cursed man's entire body morphed further, and the corrupt flesh spread more and more, creating tubes along his entire body, and chakra exploded. "I will fucking kill you!" he laughed maniacally. "Kill, kill, kill kill kill kill!"

A simply glared at the crazed orange haired psycho. "Out of my way!"

The Raikage once more streaked forward, and appeared below Juugo, his fist dug deep inside his chest.

Juugo flew up to the roof, but his smile didn't stop. He laughed more. "Gah ha ha! Yes, murder!" he cried out, and chakra shot out the tubes on his lower back, sending him rocketing at A.

A growled, and prepared his fist to hammer the rapidly approaching nut case

Too bad said nut case got a spinning ball of chakra rammed down on his spine. "Rasengan!"

Naruto's attack nearly cracked the crazy man's spine, sending him careening to the floor. Naruto landed with a determined expression. He didn't look at A, he didn't look at Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, the samurai, Darui, C, or Karin.

His gaze was directed solely at Sasuke, who stared back just as much.

Naruto strolled forward, not acknowledging the same man who refused to lift the charges of the intruder. He was about to snap at Naruto before a hand landed on his shoulder.

Or what felt like a hand. Turning around, he saw that it was a piece of paper. "Don't interfere, Raikage-sama," Konan said, her body assembling from paper. "This matter is one of friendship. Please step aside. Your brother will be avenged, make no mistake."

"And who are you supposed to be?" A snarled, and ripped the paper off his shoulder. "I don't care what this is supposed to be, no one interferes in my battles!"

"Raikage-sama," Sakura appeared in front of him, and held an arm in front of him. "Please. Let Naruto handle this."

Naruto stopped walking when Sasuke let his Susanoo disappear. "What's up, you bastard?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I'm not coming back, loser."

Naruto sighed heavily. "You already know why I'm here, so let's cut to the chase. I've trained myself to the bone just to catch up to you."

He pointed at himself, an unwavering smile on his lips. "I'm going to become the Hokage, and if I have to become that, I'll have to show the whole world that I can save my friend."

Sasuke stepped out of the hole in the wall, rubble crumbling off his clothes and the cracked walls. "I don't need saving, Naruto. My goal lies in the darkness. I don't need light."

Naruto chuckled. "I'm here to tell you the exact opposite. Your goal is to reach light. You just don't know it yet."

The last surviving Uchiha gave an annoyed glare. "You don't understand, do you?"

Naruto's grin widened. "Nope. But I'll make _you_ see that I'm right."

With a bang, Naruto rocketed against Sasuke, chakra from the Rasengan streaming like the waves of a river behind him.

At the same time Naruto got his Rasengan forward, Sasuke charged a Chidori and aimed straight at Naruto's Rasengan.

The two powerful techniques of both shape manipulation and nature manipulation clashed, sending violent streams of chakra to the floor, pillars, and ceiling, neat cracks lining the parts hit.

The resulting explosion blew both Naruto and Sasuke back, but both recovered nearly instantly, and again charged at each other. Naruto had wind enforced kunai in both his hands, extending the reach and strength of the blades, while Sasuke had his lightning enhanced katana, ready to pierce his former best friend in the chest, just like he did three years before.

With a thrust Sasuke missed Naruto, as Naruto replaced himself with a piece of shattered rock behind his opponent. The sword of Kusanagi pierced the rock, cutting it in half, while Naruto, still having both his kunai available, threw one of them at Sasuke's feet, aiming at his left foot's Achilles heel.

With the aid of the Sharingan Sasuke avoided the kunai by sidestepping. Not letting up, the blonde threw the other kunai, making Sasuke take a step back and giving Naruto the space required to flip over the first thrown kunai.

Somersaulting, the whiskered shinobi threw the wind powered kunai straight at his rival's face while at the same time flipping to get hold of the other kunai.

The Uchiha frowned when he saw Naruto's moves. '_What is he doing? He's doing unnecessary flips._'

What he didn't see would cost him.

Akira smirked from her hiding spot in a rafter separate from Karin when she saw a shadow move on the ceiling above the two fighting former teammates. '_The Sharingan isn't like the Byakugan. Those annoying red eyes might give the user the ability to predict movements, but only movements _in their line of vision_._'

Unknowingly following the same train of thought, Konan continued. '_Meaning, if the Sharingan's opponent is not even in their peripheral vision, a hit is nearly guaranteed._'

Multiple sounds of whirls surrounded the battle, and after an almost visible burst of chakra, a dozen Naruto clones rushed in with large Rasengan in both their hands.

Akira stared, dumbfounded. '_Did... you've got to be kidding me! I thought I had beaten it into him that attacking with _stealth_ is key! It'd be worse if he shouted-_'

"Shadow Clone Rasengan Barrage!" the Naruto clones shouted unanimously, kicking large amounts of rubble and collected dust, creating a cloud that obscured all.

'_I swear. I fucking swear. I will make him bleed_,' Akira's eyes twitched something fierce.

But what followed Naruto didn't entirely expect.

A large skeletal creature appeared around the black haired Uchiha, its purple arms swinging wildly around, hitting all the shadow clones in one fell swoop, making the created Rasengan to dissipate worthlessly.

Naruto scowled at the Susanoo as Sasuke grinned maliciously. "See this, Naruto? This, this is true power. This is the Susanoo. This is why you will always be a loser. I will always win," he cackled cruelly.

Naruto hid behind a pillar as Sasuke walked around, his eyes searching for a hint of blonde hair and blue eyes.

'_If what I assume is right, the bastard is being protected by that thing, and it's tough and __strong. I need to blind side him if I want to hit him. I might need Sage Mode._'

Naruto nodded to himself, satisfied with his plan. "Okay," he whispered. "Let's see. Sage Mode. I can't do that now. I need to distract him long enough for my clones to gather the necessary energy."

Naruto seallessly created three clones. They split when Naruto slowly revealed himself to Sasuke. "Hey, jerk, I'm right here. You're going blind with those eyes, aren't you?" Naruto jokingly insulted, not knowing that he hit the nail on the head.

Sasuke snapped his eyes to Naruto, unaware of the meditating clones that were gathering natural energy behind A, Sakura, Konan, and the veritable wall of armoured samurai. "There you are," he smirked. "Time to cut bonds, dead last."

Naruto returned the smirk. "Yeah, that won't happen, stupid."

While they were trading blows – or more like Naruto dodging Sasuke's attacks with taunts thrown in between to buy time for his clones, and because he felt like it – Konan observed the surrounding people.

While the two best friends fought more people had arrived. The Kazekage Gaara and both his siblings, the Mizukage Mei Terumi and two of her subordinates, the Tsuchikage and two of his family, and Danzo and his two slaves.

Basically slaves.

Instead of Konan or Sakura responding, A decided to take the lead, his own rage simmering inside him. "Sasuke Uchiha and this 'Naruto' brat are fighting. I cannot stand by, but these two are preventing me to kill that lousy Uchiha."

Danzo held his cane with both his hands and leaned on it before he spoke. "I do not know what Naruto Uzumaki is doing here. He should be present in Konoha. I will punish him swiftly and strictly, Raikage-dono."

A grunted non-committally. In all honesty, he didn't care that Naruto had interfered. He was too fascinated by the fight between the Uchiha and the Uzumaki. '_While their taijutsu leaves a lot to be desired, their energy is incredible. The Uzumaki's arsenal of techniques and the sheer volume of chakra inside him make him a figurative powerhouse. Meanwhile, the Uchiha doesn't have nearly the library of techniques as the Uzumaki, but the ones he does have are devastating and truly worth their salt. Still, they could brush up on chakra control and taijutsu, probably also genjutsu. I could wipe the floor with the Uzumaki, and use the Uchiha has a bleaching agent._'

Akira was seething with utter rage. '_Danzo. I will fucking murder you for what you've done to Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko. Just need a good opening first._'

Konan herself either didn't notice Danzo, didn't care, or had absurdly high control of her emotions. The last option was most likely.

Naruto jumped high into the air, avoiding the six-fingered hand of the black haired boy's Susanoo. He stuck his sandals to the already collapsing pillar, but with four hand seals, the pillar righted itself with rocks jutting out and embedding themselves into the floor. With two more hand seals he seeped into the pillar with the speed of a cougar, successfully escaping a purple arrow of chakra from the Susanoo.

The Susanoo's armour clad plating clanked as it pulled the string of the bow in its wicked hands, aiming straight at the running blonde. Said blonde ran like his life depended on it, his feet bringing him to relative safety.

'_Reloading bow takes three seconds, aiming takes a half, arrow arriving takes another half second when I'm about 30 metres away. The opening is four seconds, at most,_' Naruto thought, quick on his feet.

The next arrow shot straight at Naruto's chest, the wind whistling like a hurricane in a valley.

The arrow would have pierced his heart, had it not been grabbed hold of and stopped dead in its tracks.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, his lips spread in a toothy grin. "Time to even the field," he remarked smugly as his yellow eyes and horizontally slitted pupils observed Sasuke's surprise. "Do you really think you're the only one with a power-up?" he commented, quite pleased with himself at startling Sasuke.

Sasuke scowled heavily. "Doesn't matter if you have something like that. You're still a loser. You've always been, you are, and you will always be!" he shouted the last bit with rage only befitting of someone who had killed his own brother.

In truth, Sasuke was beginning to worry. Naruto shouldn't have been strong enough to take that arrow out of the air as if it was a toothpick thrown by a child. With his eyes he could see chakra circling around Naruto. But it wasn't Naruto's usual chakra, either, nor that hateful red chakra three years ago when they had fought.

This had a more green colouration to it. And it was much denser than anything he had seen.

Naruto smirked when he saw his rival begin to become frustrated with the blonde's sudden strength.

The anger the Uchiha felt rushed through his very soul. That rage he felt, the indignation that his former teammate was getting stronger than he, an Uchiha, he used to power his Susanoo.

The Susanoo gained armour, and swords transformed out of its massive, six-fingered hands. The left hand's fingers wrapped around a black flame in the second right hand that came out of the right upper arm. "Naruto..." Sasuke growled lowly. The corner of his mouth went up, and not as a smirk, more like a snarl. "You're so annoying, Naruto."

Said blonde narrowed his eyes, and responded, anger heavily corrupted his voice. "At least I don't kill someone close to me just for power. My lust for power and revenge doesn't overcome me, Sasuke. I'm in control of my own emotions, not the other way around."

The Uchiha's Sharingan widened in rage. "You don't understand anything, dead last!"

With that the Susanoo swung its left arm around, a sword of pure black flames vertically swinging directly at Naruto. The sword connected with Naruto's blocking forearms, bringing a short lived satisfaction to Sasuke. But the natural chakra shell that surrounded Naruto banished the fire before it could lick his clothes with its heat. Sasuke didn't stop to think about it. Naruto was known for being unpredictable, so he simply swung once more, wishing for his former teammate's head being separated from his shoulders.

The Amaterasu sword dispelled before it hit him dead-on, the fires whipping up, doing the absolute opposite of its original intention; killing nothing and burning nothing.

Naruto's Sage mode practically nullified the malicious, lifeless chakra that made up the sword.

Naruto didn't stop to ponder upon the strange happening, instead opting to rush forward, a wind powered, fist sized Rasengan already fully formed in his hand. The Rasengan was thrust straight at Sasuke's chest. Strangely, the Sage powered wind Rasengan completely undid the Susanoo as if it wasn't there to begin with. The Rasengan, however, lost most of its own power, almost relying solely on Naruto's wind and refined chakra instead of the natural energy.

His Rasengan still had more than enough power to obliterate Sasuke's grey shirt, tearing it apart and sending strips of cloth everywhere. It felt as if his chest caved in and was shredded at the same time. The pain was too much for the Uchiha handle, breaking his concentration to the point where he couldn't focus any chakra at all. That meant that his Sharingan deactivated for but a moment.

That small window of opportunity allowed some of Naruto's left-over clones to charge, to take the chance while they still had it.

The clones slapped dozens of slips of paper on Sasuke, the papers had lots and lots of seemingly inane scribbles. With all the pieces put on him, the clones formed a one handed Ram seal, and the illegible writing glowed a pale blue before spreading to cover more of the black haired boy's body.

"_That little shit!_" Akira appraised, a small, reluctant smirk playing on her lips. "_He stole some of my stasis seals, paralysis seals, chakra restraint seals, and weight seals! So that's where the scrolls have gone!_"

That thought gave Akira pause. "_He stole scrolls from me. I will fucking _murder_ him!_"

Sasuke's eyes widened as his chakra suddenly became unresponsive. He wanted to speak, to demand an explanation on what had just happened to him. His chest felt like it was on fire – might as well have been! – and he couldn't see anything but a blurry mess of colours. He wanted to shout, scream, howl, whatever, but his vocal chords just wouldn't obey his intense wishes. His chakra wasn't acknowledging his ambitions.

All he wanted at right that moment was to murder Naruto with his own bare hands for humiliating him.

Naruto calmly approached his teammate's lying form, and squatted right beside his head. Naruto grimaced at the sight of Sasuke's torn shirt and chest. "Jeez, I really fucked you up, didn't I? Who knew I was strong enough to hit you?"

A thought crossed Naruto's mind. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed loudly, and smirked evilly. "Remember when we fought at the Valley of the End? You said I couldn't scratch your forehead."

Naruto channelled some chakra to his nail, the control he had gotten from the strenuous training from Konan and Akira assuring that he could make a chakra nail without overpowering it.

"Now I'll prove to you that I've grown stronger. I have caught up to you now."

Naruto's chakra inched closer and closer to the disgraced Uchiha's forehead.

But with a shriek of a mixture of glee and rage, a blue wave of chakra swept over the place Naruto had once been. Naruto flipped backwards to avoid the stream, and as the corrupted Juugo stormed at him, he whipped out a blade of wind, held together by his chakra.

The air distorted from the sheer speed it flew in. It tore what little remained of Juugo's shirt apart, digging into the tainted flesh of his chest. His blood burst out like a red river, creating stains on the floor, both large and small.

Juugo's entire body seemed flushed of blood, his skin paling dangerously, and the corruption of natural energy receding rapidly.

Naruto did not react to the dying orange haired teenager, at least not immediately.

What he did react to was a giant sword being swept straight at his neck from behind. He felt the air shift and the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He ducked beneath Zabuza's sword, and with his wind covered hands he swiped at Suigetsu's waist.

Water splashed as Suigetsu's torso fell onto the floor. Without hesitation Naruto snatched the humongous sword out of the water boy's hands and swung it directly at the teenager's head, splashing more water aside.

'_Is this... what I've been missing?_' Sakura thought to herself. '_Naruto has trained with these two Akatsuki criminals. I would never have thought he could become so strong in such a sort amount of time. I didn't know it was possible... but Naruto _is_ the number one most surprising ninja._'

In a strange turn of events, Naruto fiercely slammed Zabuza's sword on the ground where Suigetsu's head would have been, spreading cracks across the entire floor, shaking the whole gigantic building. His eyes slowly turned more and more red, crimson seeping slowly into his eyes. His canine teeth elongated, his whisker marks deepened and darkened.

Reddish orange chakra flowed out of his pores, cloaking him in something malicious.

"I have waited for this moment, Sasuke... I've always wanted to be as good as you, to be better than you. Then I'd be able to have everyone acknowledge me for being strong, and not the dead last."

Naruto's anger reached its boiling point. He whipped around and pounded the already destroyed floor. "But _no_! Everyone keeps telling me I'm the worst! They keep telling me I'm the dead last, that I'm weak! _You keep saying I'm a failure_!_ I'll show you a failure, Sasuke_!"

With a scream of rage, Naruto jumped up to the roof and used it as a springboard, and rushed straight at Sasuke's vulnerable, and panicking, form.

Rather, apparently vulnerable and panicking.

Sasuke managed to roll to the side, the seals having lost their power due to Naruto's loss of control. A huge, six-fingered purple hand smacked Naruto clear across the chest, sending him careening into a pillar.

His Susanoo manifested as an armoured being, and black flames streamed out of the large purple helmet. "That's because you are a loser," Sasuke smugly stated before the Susanoo summoned forth a sword in his front right covered in the same flames of Amaterasu.

A shield appeared in his Susanoo's front left arm, the arm behind it wielding an orb of flaming blackness. In the right hand behind the right arm was a bow of sorts.

'_That thing changed again. I've seen Itachi use it before. He called it Susanoo. His was different, though..._' Akira thought suspiciously, and was ready to intervene, should Naruto lose control over his emotions.

Lo and behold, Naruto's skin began peeling off, showing burning red flesh. His eyes become nothing but white holes along with his mouth. Five tails jumped out of his tail bone.

Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of the ominous chakra. "He's a Jinchuuriki?" A exclaimed.

Akira grunted. "Shit!"

She rushed down, seals already appearing in front of her in the air, ready to be applied. "Shit shit shit!" she repeated angrily. '_I _do not_ want to face something this evil again! The Four Tails and Five Tails were bad enough, the Nine Tails will be catastrophic!_'

She was uncaring of the hateful chakra surging out of Naruto. She kicked hard on Naruto's skull, knowing it would only serve to stall him. It gave her more than enough time to grab the seals in the air and push them into Naruto's burning skin. The seals evaporated almost as soon as they came into contact, so Akira made more and more seals to restrict the Nine Tails' influence. The more seals she slapped on, the less chakra came forward out of Naruto.

Eventually, Akira's efforts showed fruit. The chakra subsided fully, but Naruto's skin was red and raw. In a deep corner of her conscience, she was worried sick about Naruto's condition, and that corner had become more and more clear to her since meeting Naruto.

She grabbed onto Naruto's collar and threw him to Sakura, knowing she was an efficient healer, being trained under none other than Tsunade of the Sannin. "Heal him-"

Akira felt pain shooting through her. Blood spilled out of her mouth and stomach in huge goblets. Her flawless skin paled from the loss of blood.

A purple arrow had shot straight through her stomach. Demented cackling tore through her sense of hearing. '_The Uchiha... I forgot about the Uchiha..._'

That was Akira's last thoughts before she lost consciousness.

Konan's eyes widened with utter fear, and she dissolved into paper, flying straight for Akira. The massive amounts of paper caught Akira's falling form before she hit the floor. The blood quickly stained the usually pristine paper, but Konan could not care less, putting as much pressure on the wound as she could. She materialized in front of Akira's quickly dying body, and grasped onto her cheeks. "Akira! Akira!" she shouted, ignoring the international criminal who had done the foul deed. Tears started to form in the corner of the panicking Konan. She did not want to lose her friend, the only friend she had left. She could accept Nagato's death; it had been one where he had done something good. But Akira, she had been killed. She could not accept that, she would never have Akira die.

Sasuke retreated after having the lightning covered A rush at him and smash straight through the tough exterior of the Susanoo, shattering it like glass. "Lariat!" A yelled fiercely.

Sasuke rolled under A's arm, and prepared an arrow faster than he had done before. The dark flames created an arrow, and before anyone knew it, Danzo was burning with the fires of Amaterasu, screaming in pain and despair.

Sasuke wasn't stupid. He knew he couldn't win against the five Kage, especially not if Naruto was among them, even if Naruto was incapacitated at the moment, if he knew how he usually acted, Naruto would be back up on his feet before anyone could say 'ramen'.

He had already accomplished what he wanted to do, anyway. But before he could do anything, he disappeared in a swirl of space and time, and so did the terrified Karin.

A chuckle echoed through the halls, startling the gathered samurai and shinobi. "This is intriguing. I didn't predict this, but nevertheless, this pleases me."

Tobi had arrived, his orange mask yet again firmly covering his face. "Shall we get started with the negotiations?"

Everyone could essentially feel the mirth in his smug voice.

A was the first to voice his opinion. "Who the hell are you?!"

The masked man chuckled once more. "My name doesn't matter, but you can call me Madara Uchiha."

* * *

Konan was indifferent, her face set in a stern, emotionless expression. She was standing listlessly in the local hospital's waiting room, looking into the black coffee in the porcelain cup in her hands, her back turned to her two companions.

Sakura and Naruto looked worried, Naruto more so. He was more attached to Akira than Sakura was, but the pink haired teen gave her respects. '_I'm not sure if Akira will survive..._'

Naruto covered his face with both his hands. "She'll pull through. Akira is strong, she'll survive."

Konan gave no indication to hearing his encouraging words.

"Hey, she has survived more than that, hasn't she?" Naruto desperately pleaded.

Nothing again.

Naruto sighed. "Well, at least we know she'll live. She might not be a shinobi anymore, but she'll live."

"There's no guarantee that she will," Konan's spoke up softly. "The doctor said her injury extends to her heart and lungs. Even with the addition of chakra, the possibility of survival is low."

Naruto gritted his teeth. "But that doesn't matter, she'll survive. I believe in her, and so should you!"

The only response she gave was a small sip of the coffee in her hands.

Konan's melancholic thoughts were interrupted by the calm footsteps clacking on the crisp floor. A doctor in a slightly blood splattered white robe opened the door, her face absolutely expressionless. "Your friend has regained consciousness, and is expected to make a full recovery in six months with rehabilitation for an additional two months."

Konan and Sakura sighed in relief, but no one sighed louder than Naruto. He grinned wide, and exclaimed somewhat loudly, "See, I knew she would pull through!" and laughed.

Konan bowed briefly before asking. "May I see her?"

The doctor just nodded, waved for them to follow, and walked back into the double-doors.

* * *

To see Akira with her eyes blinking and her chest moving up and down – '_Holy- her breasts are larger than Tsunade's!_' Sakura shouted inside her own mind, her eyes wider than dinner plates. – brought a wave of relief to Konan. It felt as if the weight of the world had just been lifted off her shoulders.

'_More like kicked off..._' Konan thought humorously to herself before grabbing an uncomfortable looking chair, setting it beside the hospital bed, and sitting on it, grabbing Akira's hand with both of her own.

Akira chuckled weakly at the motion. "The only thing missing now is a bar of chocolate, and this moment would be perfect."

Konan smiled as she unzipped her dark grey cloak and fished out said sweet. She unwrapped it half-way before it was torn from her hands by a beaming Akira. "Perfect," Akira whispered, "A seventy percent chocolate bar, without nuts, and added milk. You know me too well, Konan."

Said blue haired woman replied with a widening of her smile.

Naruto saw that they needed to be alone for a bit, and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Let's leave them alone, Sakura," he whispered into her ear.

Sakura nodded numbly. '_That Konan woman's breasts are almost as big as Hinata's! What's going on in this world?!_'

After Naruto had softly closed the door Konan's breath shuddered. She had suppressed sobs.

There were no tears shed. Konan refused to cry. She had not cried since Yahiko died. She had not cried when she covered Nagato in her paper and had Akira seal it inside a seal over her heart.

Nagato would approve. Nagato-

"Nagato!" Konan said, as if his name had solved a life-long question.

Akira shot back a bit, a small piece of chocolate melting in her mouth. "A wha-?"

Konan's eyes burned fiercely as she found a resolve she didn't know she had. Given Akira's history with both Nagato and Konan, she was the only one to see that 'fire'. "Nagato's eyes, his Rinnegan can heal you. If I can convince Naruto to implant them into himself, I am sure he could heal you without any need for recovery or rehabilitation."

Akira's eyes widened in surprise and enlightenment. "That's..."

Konan smiled gently as she scooted closer to Akira's face, their foreheads almost touching. "You will be okay again. I won't lose you too."

Normally Akira would flinch away from such close contact, but she didn't. This was Konan. This was her best friend, the only friend aside from Nagato she had ever had.

'_Best friend? Or... something... more? Something... else?_' Akira couldn't stop the incoming blush that flushed her cheeks.

Konan blinked in surprise at bearing witness to Akira's blush. She couldn't stop the chuckle that came forth. She was in a particularly good mood because of the previous revelation, too, and moved her mouth closer to Akira's.

Words weren't needed. They weren't wanted. They wouldn't speak loud enough.

Konan zipped her cloak up again, and smirked inwardly at Akira's flushed face and dazed expression.

She closed the door after her, and smiled a small smile when her eyes landed on Naruto and Sakura. "Naruto, I have an idea, something that might help you immensely in your travels and aid you in your venture of retrieving Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto blinked while Konan gave her offer to him. "I wish for you to replace your eyes with Nagato's."

Words could not express Naruto's surprise in the matter. "Wh-What?"

Konan closed her eyes, and she would openly admit that she felt a bit smug from surprising the number one most unpredictable shinobi. "Yes. I want you to inherit Nagato's Rinnegan."

Sakura flinched in surprise, and asked with not a small hint of anger, "The same eyes that killed Konoha?"

Konan nodded. "And the same eyes that gave them all their lives back."

Sakura blinked. "Point... taken."

"So," Konan began again, turning to Naruto. "Do you accept my offer, Naruto Uzumaki?"

The blonde haired blue eyed number one most surprising ninja grinned.

* * *

**Author's note:** Oh for fuck's sake, why am I so late on updating?

Because I suck dick. Literally? Maybe in an alternate universe, but not this one. Definitely not this one. And for crying out loud, don't even try to mention how short this chapter is! I'm running out of ideas on where to lead this story. GIVE ME IDEAS, POPULATION OF EARTH! SPRAY YOUR IDEAS INTO MY IDEA HOLE!


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